(Yicai Global) Jan. 23 -- This year's World Economic Forum Annual Meeting digs deep into the important topics of globalization and tech-aided industrial reforms around the globe. David Aikman, the chief representative officer of the WEF's China bureau, gave an exclusive interview to Yicai Global on the sidelines of the meeting in Davos, Switzerland, to explain what has been discussed about the direction of the global economy.

Yicai Global: Is there any deeper meaning in choosing "Globalization 4.0: Shaping a New Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution" as this year's theme?

Aikman: "We really need a global view due to these sweeping technological changes, but also because of the nature. The context of the world is changing in terms of how the world should be run. Different nations have very different ideas about the way their economies and their international relations should be structured. Some of the norms which existed for many years -- like the role of the United States -- is changing in the international arena."

"The nature of the global challenges that we are dealing with are fundamentally different. So many of the multilateral institutions and the international organizations that were created fifty or seventy years ago were focused on preventing wars or dealing with specific challenges. And the nature of the challenges has changed. So we have global challenges that require more cooperation but we have an international context which has more competition. So that makes it difficult for those organizations to function. And that makes it difficult for us as a planet to solve those challenges."

"So you know our discussions with different leaders throughout the years about what topics are most important to them. All of the leaders highlighted this challenge. So we felt it would be really helpful of a role for the WEF to play to focus the discussion on what's the new architecture, the new global architecture that we need, how we can reform these institutions and help them to work better."

YG: In the age of Globalization 4.0, innovation-driven economy deconstructs and restructures various industries. It also distributes thousands of workers. How should we set the new global norms, standards, and policies?

Aikman: "One of the challenges of the 4th industrial revolution and this transformation and automation and robotization of different jobs is going to change the nature of work. Not only is it going to change the skills that people need but also change the job, as well as the location of the jobs. So these kinds of disruptions can be very challenging."

"I'll give you an example. In India, for example, it may be challenging for India to follow China's model where China was able over the last 40 years to move people from a largely agrarian society into an industrial manufacturing society and now into the service sector. But in India, many of the factories are not employing factory workers, they are going straight to robots. So then the challenge for the government becomes how do we lift our people out of poverty? How do we give them economic opportunities if the higher-paid, low-skilled jobs like in factories don't exist anymore?"

"This is just one small example or one big example of the way in which the nature of work is changing. So we think in that sense it could be very much disruptive and cause more tensions. But it can also create more opportunities. And it would be very interesting to see which countries, particularly the developing countries, take advantage of the fourth industrial revolution to create new opportunities, and to leapfrog, and to become leaders in different areas and in new technology sectors in order to create opportunities. And here China is a great example of a nation which embraced the fourth industrial revolution, technologies, data, artificial intelligence, and drones. China is now becoming a leader, the global leader in those spaces."

YG: Free trade remains the hottest topic. Ministers of trade usually hold informal meetings during the Davos Forum. What do you think will be the focus of their talks?

Aikman: "I think what is interesting about the trade is that even the nature of trade is changing, right? For so long, trade has been focused on physical goods, but now we are seeing economies that have 40 percent to 50 percent services. Those are services that can be fulfilled online such as e-commerce. So even the nature of trade and the way we think about trade is changing fundamentally. We need to step up and adapt to the new context."

"During last year, there was a lot of progress made in other areas on multilateral trade. The EU-Japan free trade deal [set to enter into force in Feb] involves 33 percent of the global gross domestic product. We have the new Trans-Pacific Partnership which is looking at a much more comprehensive regional partnership, really focused on inclusive growth and on issues of sustainability in the circular economy. So there are some positive signals in other areas related to trade."

YG: More than 350 meetings will be held during the conference which involves many heavyweight global conversations around topics of geopolitics, risk control and the future of the global economy. Which of them should Chinese leaders and entrepreneurs especially pay attention to and take part in?

Aikman: "For business leaders, [the Davos Forum] is a chance to renew or to create new partnerships, and to bring new models into the discussion," Aikman said. The number of Chinese attendees sets the record this year, according to Aikman. He added that he was happy that the number of participants from the business sector -- both in private firms and state-owned enterprises -- was growing, including some really respectable and impressive leaders.

"There's many, many things where China is truly innovating and doing things very differently from the rest of the world. And for the corporate leaders, they can engage with their peers in actually shaping what's happening in their industry. They can talk about the different energy policies around the world. They can join together with other companies and create initiatives to spur responsible business and benefits for the society."

"I think for the Chinese public sector leaders, it's a chance to share China's narrative and China's vision. It's a very important moment as we've just celebrated the country's 40 years of reform and opening-up. So it's a unique moment for China to share its model and share its story and to really update the world on what it's done but also what it intends to do."

"So I'm hoping that many Chinese companies and leaders will be active participants in those dialogues and we will see even greater engagement by Chinese companies in particular around different initiatives because we can't solve the global challenges without an actively engaged China."

This year, Chinese participants at the meeting include Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding, Li Xiaojia, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, Ling Wen, the general manager at China Energy Investment, Xu Lirong, the chairman of China COSCO Shipping, Ning Gaoning, the head of Sinochem Group, Wang Huisheng, the chief of the State Development & Investment, and Dai Hegen, the chairman of the China National Chemical Engineering Group.

The Davos Forum will continue until Jan. 25. 

Editor: Emmi Laine