金立群：发挥多边主义作用 促进世界经济融合发展

在当前全球经济复苏形势仍不明朗、国际环境纷繁复杂的新形势下，全球财富管理论坛（GAMF）于9月26日举行上海峰会，围绕“全球经济复苏与金融业合作”的主题展开中外对话与交流。

亚洲基础设施投资银行行长金立群出席峰会并发表了主题演讲。他表示，目前多边开发银行在全球范围内为抗击新冠肺炎和帮助各国复苏经济提供了有力的资金支持，多边主义在这一关键时刻发挥了重要作用。当前世界形势清楚地表明，国际社会应该团结一致应对共同挑战，而金融领域的合作与融合，对促进全球经济实体领域的发展具有重要作用。目前，中国政府正稳步推进国内资本市场和金融体系更高水平和更大规模的改革开放，所做努力得到了国际社会的高度认可，亚投行既是开放的受益者，也是有力的贡献者，并期待与各方加强在新兴市场经济体基础设施方面的合作与投资，共同为建设一个更美好的未来、更美好的世界而努力！以下为发言全文：

亚洲基础设施投资银行行长金立群

尊敬的各位来宾、各位伙伴、各位朋友，早上好！

首先，我要感谢楼继伟理事长邀请我出席今天的会议。

此刻能够面对现场观众，而非一台电脑屏幕发言，是一个令人欣喜的变化。虽然今天并不是每位嘉宾都能亲临现场，但我们中的许多人能够亲临现场，表明中国的生活正在回归正常。

我希望世界上每个国家和经济体都能很快战胜新冠肺炎。我也希望我们都能比以前更坚强、更睿智地摆脱这场流行病。

不幸的是，短期经济前景仍在下行趋势。很多人希望2021年经济出现“V”型复苏，但现阶段我们还不能太乐观。好的一面在于，自3月份以来，金融市场基本保持平稳，众多国家能继续以低成本筹资，这得益于发达经济体采取了前所未有的宽松货币政策，宽松货币政策正扩展到亚洲地区。

但并非所有国家都这么幸运，一些国家仍被切断在资本市场之外，无法为经济复苏提供资金。这些脆弱的经济体需要得到国际社会的支持，帮助其复苏经济，避免出现发展差距越拉越大的风险。

截至目前，多边开发银行在全球范围内为抗击新冠肺炎和帮助各国复苏经济所承诺的资金总额高达约940亿美元，多边主义在这一关键时刻发挥了重要作用。尽管反对者在推动更多的贸易保护主义和封闭的经济体系，但新冠疫情的冲击，加强了我们对国际合作是应对全球挑战的关键的信念。大家一致公认，亚洲基础设施投资银行（亚投行）作为一个新成立的多边开发银行，最大的特点是吸收了现有主要多边开发银行最佳实践和经验教训，而不是在照搬现有机构的做法。

亚投行与布雷顿森林机构进行了合作，充分借鉴其在治理、环境和社会标准以及可持续投资等方面的先进做法。

亚投行建立在精简、廉洁、绿色的价值观之上。这些价值观支撑了我们致力于减少浪费和效率低下，对腐败和不道德行为零容忍，以及推动促进绿色经济和应对气候变化的相关投资项目。

亚投行的成立旨在为基础设施发展筹措资金。将亚洲基础设施缺口单纯地看作是一种融资缺口并不准确，仅仅通过加大融资无法解决缺口问题，投资项目还必须在治理、可持续性、设计和实施方面都必须达到高标准。

亚投行的宗旨在于为基础设施和其他生产性领域提供资金，亚投行具有敏捷、适应性强的突出特点。在新冠肺炎严重破坏全球经济、对人们的生命造成重大威胁之际，我们立刻行动，超越常规业务界限，向相关成员政府提供资金，帮助他们遏制新冠疫情，满足医疗保健部门的需求。中国是我们抗击疫情国际合作的第一个国家。

我们迅速调整了投资策略，并启动了高达130亿美元的新冠肺炎危机恢复基金（CRF），以满足即时之需。

迄今为止，我们已经批准了超过63亿美元的资金，用于15个成员的公共卫生危机应对、大流行病预防、流动性和应急预算支持。一旦危机过去，我们将恢复正常，继续我们的主流基础设施业务。我们还将致力于投资那些利用最新技术应对气候变化、引入私营部门参与、以及有助于加强亚洲和世界其他地区联系的基础设施建设项目。亚投行非常愿与私人资本合作，在座的和通过视频接入现场的各位代表，你们在新兴市场经济体基础设施方面的合作和投资，对于为每个人建设一个更美好的未来、更美好的世界至关重要。

事实上，亚洲的巨大机遇在于，资本市场有潜力为基础设施和其他关键领域创造新的资金来源，以发展亚洲经济并为复苏提供资金。在习近平主席的部署下，中国政府正稳步推进国内资本市场和金融体系更高水平和更大规模的改革开放，为此所做的努力也得到了国际社会的高度认可。不同金融领域子行业对外资所有权的限制已经放宽，高盛和摩根士丹利持有企业的大部分股权已得到批准，而美国运通成为第一个获准在中国开展人民币交易的外国支付网络。

推进国内资本市场开放的步伐正在加速。去年，中国央行取消了合格境外投资者投资股市的上限。今年，外国机构投资者已获准直接进入在岸债券交易市场，或通过债券互联计划进行投资，预计证券监管机构将出台进一步规定，允许更多外国投资进入国内股票和债券市场。

正因为中国市场改革取得的进展，继加入摩根斯坦利国际资本指数（MSCI）、标准普尔道琼斯（S&P Down Jones）等主要指数后，中国的主权债券于本周被纳入富时罗素指数（FTSE Russell index）。外国投资者正稳步增持中国债券，截至8月份，他们已持有2.5万亿元人民币的在岸中国债券，连续21个月每月增持。

亚投行既是开放的受益者，也是一个有力的贡献者。亚投行今年6月在中国发行了首笔熊猫债券。自新的中国银行间市场交易商协会的指引发布以来，我们是发行熊猫债券的级别最高的发行人。这支可持续发展债券的定价与中国政府债券前所未有的接近，仅为7个基点。我为我们的财务团队取得如此令人鼓舞的成绩感到骄傲。

亚投行对中国债券市场的一个贡献是，它能够吸引国际投资者进入中国银行间债券市场。发行的第一支熊猫债券的最终投资者65%来自海外，35%是国内投资者。我们希望继续吸引国际投资者，使他们能够在未来进一步参与熊猫债市场。

值得注意的是，我们的首支熊猫债券具有新冠肺炎流行病毒预防标签，也就是说筹资的资金将主要用于新冠肺炎病毒危机恢复基金下的第一笔贷款——该贷款用于为中国的两个城市提供应对新冠疫情的紧急融资。

中国在发行流行病债券应对新冠疫情方面走在了世界前列。海外很快效仿这一做法，引起2020年全球范围内首次发行社会债券。这说明了金融创新在解决社会问题方面的巨大力量。

亚投行今年发行了两笔在美国证监会注册、以美元计价的可持续发展债券，筹集资金用于亚投行设立的新冠肺炎危机恢复基金(CRF)的紧急援助项目。随着我们在资本市场业务上的不断发展，已经完成了美元、人民币、土耳其里拉、俄罗斯卢布、港币和其他货币债券的发行。

我们已经聘请了全球领先的承销商，承担亚投行债券发行工作，包括高盛、摩根大通、巴克莱、道明银行、野村证券，当然还有国内的中国银行、中国工商银行等。

在中国，我们非常希望继续与政府密切合作，分享我们在国际资本市场的经验，在相关国家试点国际做法。为筹备熊猫债券的发行，我们与中国的金融市场监管机构进行了紧密的对话，他们非常愿意听取我们作为超国家发行人的经验和反馈。

亚投行的总部设在北京，我们能够利用优越的地理位置，为其他发展金融机构更容易地接触到国内投资者提供便利。市场的发展得益于中国政府进一步开放国内金融市场的持续努力。今年8月，中国人民银行发布了《人民币国际化年度报告》，呼吁为投资在岸债券和股票的基础设施提供便利。摩根士丹利预测，2030年人民币在国际上的使用将稳步增长，成为全球外汇储备的组成部分，从目前的2%增长到5%~10%。

随着中国金融体系继续与世界其他地区融合，中国作为一个融资平台，将会有巨大的机会来支持亚洲和世界的基础设施融资需求。

当前世界形势清楚地表明，国际社会应该团结一致应对共同挑战，脱钩是不明智之举。金融领域的合作与融合，对促进全球经济实体领域的发展具有重要作用。新冠肺炎疫情暂时迫使人们保持社交距离，但这恰恰使人们更加认识到团结一致的重要性。我们比以往任何时候都更清楚地认识到，脱钩是灾难性的，世界各国经济应该相互融合，而不是彼此疏远。这就是我们今天在这里讨论这些重要问题的原因。

非常感谢！

以下为英文发言全文：

Distinguished guests, partners and friends, good morning!

First, let me extend my thanks to Chairman Lou Jiwei for inviting me to speak today.

It is a welcome change to be able to speak to a live audience and not only a computer screen. Although not everyone is physically here today, the fact that many of us can now gather in person is a sign that life in China is getting back to normal.

My hope is every nation and economy around the world will soon beat COVID19. I also wish we can all come out of this pandemic a little stronger and a little wiser than before.

The unfortunate truth is the near-term economic outlook remains firmly on the downside. Many hope for a V-shape recovery in 2021 but we should not count on it at this stage.

 On the bright side, financial markets have largely remained calm since March, and many countries continue to enjoy low borrowing costs. This is also due to the unprecedented monetary easing in developed economies, spilling over into Asia.

But not all countries are so lucky, and some are still cut off from market access to fund their recoveries. It is these vulnerable economies which will have to depend on the international community for support so they can participate in the eventual economic recovery and not risk falling further behind.

To date, the combined commitments of the multilateral development banks to fund the COVID19 recovery has been estimated at close to USD94 billion. Multilateralism has played a significant role at this crucial moment, despite the naysayers who push for more protectionist and closed economic systems. The COVID19 pandemic has reinforced our conviction that international cooperation is key to addressing global challenges.

AIIB was always envisaged to be a multilateral development bank (MDB) that would incorporate the learnings and experience of other MDBs that came before without becoming an exact clone.

 AIIB has cooperated with the Bretton Woods MDBs and build on what they have achieved in areas of governance, environmental and social standards and sustainable investments. 

 AIIB was founded on the values of Lean, Clean and Green. These underpin our commitment to operating with a strong management approach that reduces waste and inefficiency, has zero tolerance for corruption and unethical behaviors and promotes a green economy and climate resilient investments.

Our Bank was founded to finance infrastructure development. However, it’s wrong to regard Asia’s infrastructure gap simply as a financing gap. Therefore, the gap cannot be solved by just ramping up financing. Projects need to be of high quality in governance, in sustainability, in design and implementation.

AIIB’s mandate is financing infrastructure and other productive sectors. The Bank is agile, adaptive and responsive. When it became apparent COVID19 pandemic was wreaking havoc with the global economy and taking a toll of the people’s lives, we lost no time in stepping beyond the parameters of our regular business. We have provided financing to the client governments to help them contain the pandemic and address needs in healthcare sector. China is the first country we worked with for that purpose.

We swiftly pivoted our investment strategy and launched an up to 13 billion COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility to meet the immediate demands. 

To date, we have approved over USD6.3 billion for public health crisis responses, pandemic preparedness, and liquidity and emergency budgetary support in 15 members.  Once the crisis is behind us, we will go back to normal and continue our mainstream infrastructure business.

And we will strive to invest in infrastructure that addresses climate change through latest technology, attracts private sector to participate in such investment and is conducive to connection between Asia and the rest of the world.

The mobilizing of private capital in particular is of note to those of you who are here present and those who are going virtual from abroad. Your partnership and investment in infrastructure in emerging market economies is imperative to building a better future and better world for everyone.

The truth is the big opportunity in Asia is the potential of the capital markets to create new sources of funding for infrastructure and other critical sectors to develop the Asian economy and fund the recovery.

The Chinese government’s steady efforts to reform and open up – at a higher standard and on a larger scale as President Xi instructed --  the domestic capital markets and financial system are also being recognized by the international community. Foreign ownership restrictions have been relaxed across various subsectors of the financial sector, and as a result, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have received approval to take a majority stake in their businesses here, while American Express became the first foreign payments network to be allowed to process yuan transactions in China.

Steps to open up the domestic capital markets are rapidly accelerating. The central bank last year removed the ceiling on investments by qualified foreign investors in stocks. This year, foreign institutional investors have been allowed to directly enter the onshore bond exchange market, or invest through Bond Connect programs, while the securities regulator is expected to release further rules to allow more foreign investment into the domestic stock and bond markets.

Recognizing these enhancements, Chinese sovereign bonds were included in the FTSE Russell index just this week, following the other major indices MSCI and S&P Down Jones, which did so previously. Foreign investors are steadily increasing their allocation, and are now holders of 2.5 trillion yuan of Chinese bonds onshore as of August, having increased these holdings every month for 21 months.

AIIB is both a beneficiary of this opening up and a force contributing to it. AIIB issued its first Panda Bond in June. We were the highest rated issuer to issue Panda since the new National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors guidelines were put in place. The pricing of this sustainable development bond was an unprecedented tight spread to China Government Bonds at only 7 basis points. I am very proud of our Treasury team for such an encouraging result.

One small contribution AIIB made to the Chinese bond market is we were able to attract international investors into the China interbank bond market. The final investor distribution for our first panda bond was 65% offshore and 35% onshore. We are keen to continue to attract international investors and enable them to be involved in further panda issuances in the future.

It is also worth noting that our debut panda carried the COVID-19 pandemic prevention label in order to reflect the fact that the proceeds would primarily be used to disburse our first loan under our COVID-19 crisis recovery facility. This loan provided healthcare infrastructure to 2 municipalities here in China.

In fact, China really took the lead when it came to issuing pandemic bonds in an endeavor to control the COVID-19 outbreak. This was quickly replicated offshore, leading to an unprecedented social bond issuance in 2020 globally. This goes to show the power of financial innovation in addressing social issues.

AIIB has issued 2 USD denominated SEC registered sustainable development bonds this year, both being executed in the context of our COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility (CRF). As we grow our presence in the capital markets, we have completed issuances in USD, CNY, TRY, RUB, HKD and others.

We have engaged leading global underwriters, such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Barclays, TD Bank, Nomura, and of course, the Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. 

Here in China we are very keen to continue to work closely with the local authorities to share our experiences in the international capital markets to play a role, where asked, in piloting international practices here domestically. We have had an intense dialogue with market regulators in preparation for the Panda bond launch and they have been keen to hear our experience and feedback as a supranational issuer.

Headquartered in Beijing, we are in the fortuitous position of being able to use our physical location to ultimately facilitate easier access to onshore investors for other development finance institutions.  

Market developments have been helped by the continued effort of the Chinese authorities to further open domestic financial markets. In August this year, the PBOC has released the annual report on the internationalization of the Yuan, calling for a facilitated access to the infrastructure for investment in onshore bonds and equity. 

Investment bank Morgan Stanley predicts that the international use of the yuan will steadily grow as a component of global foreign exchange reserves, from the current 2% to a percentage of between 5 and 10% by 2030.

As China’s financial system continues to integrate with rest of the world, there will be tremendous opportunity for China as a financing platform to support the needs of infrastructure finance in Asia and the world.

What is going on in this world clearly indicates that the international community should work in unison to address the common challenges. Decoupling is no option.  Cooperation and integration in the financial sector play an important role in promoting the development of real sectors in the global economy.  Covid-19 pandemic has momentarily forced people to keep social distance and be separated in lockdown, but this has exactly enhanced their sense of the importance of staying together. More than ever we understand that decoupling is disastrous, and economies across the world should be integrated, instead of drifting away from each other.  And that is why we are here today to discuss such important issues.  

Thanks very much!