A media think tank established by Nanfang Media Group in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, is expected to play an important role in strengthening international communication.

Huang Can, editor-in-chief of Nanfang Media Group, said the establishment of GDToday Think Tank at the 2024 Understanding China Conference in Guangzhou on Wednesday is another important measure for his group to build a more effective international communication system and promote the transformation of media think tanks.

"It will help gather wisdom and deepen smart media cooperation to provide international solutions for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Guangdong province," Huang said.

GDToday Think Tank will help the world explore and discover opportunities in China while helping domestic enterprises and Chinese culture to go global, he said.

Huang said GDTT will be able to contribute its unique wisdom and strength to the world's understanding of China and China's integration into the world.

Cao Wei, deputy secretary-general of the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, said he believes GDTT will consolidate the resources of international communication think tanks, enrich the "toolbox" of Guangdong's international communication industry and help to build a multichannel and "three-dimensional" external communication pattern.

He said his institute was honored to be invited to participate in the Global Bay Area Think Tank Alliance which was established on Wednesday to deepen cooperation in intelligent media, work hand in hand with mainstream media, complement each other's advantages, and jointly improve international communication efficiency.

Zhao Yang, editor-in-chief of GDToday, said GDToday is committed to providing accurate and timely news in multiple languages to global readers, including English, Portuguese and French.

GDToday will organize cultural activities to tell the stories of China, the GBA and Guangdong to the outside world and become a bridge connecting China and foreign countries in the following months, he said.

Nanfang Media Group launches its GDToday Think Tank during the 2024 Understanding China Conference in Guangzhou, Guangdong, on Wednesday. CHINA DAILY

At the inaugural ceremony, the think tank issued certificates to experts, scholars and consultants who will contribute their wisdom and experience to developing the think tank.

After the inaugural ceremony of GDTT and the media alliance, an international communication seminar on "Understanding the Greater Bay Area" was organized. The seminar focused on the topics of New Opportunities for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in a Changing World and Interpreting China's Opportunities in a Changing World.

Former Ethiopian president Mulatu Teshome said during the seminar that understanding the GBA is integral to understanding China's development process, modernization, and its reforms and opening-up. "The opening of China and the modernization of China have brought a very good opportunity to (the) GBA to trade with the world, to interact with the world," he said.

It has also given the rest of the developing world easy access to China and opportunities to attract investment from China and to trade with China, he added.

John Milligan-Whyte, executive chairman of the America-China Partnership Foundation, said that GDTT can become the world's leading think tank in working out how the economic growth of the United States and China can be sufficiently aligned for them to peacefully coexist.

Yves Leterme, former prime minister of Belgium, said the world economy is not a zero-sum game. He added that, based on lessons from the past, the solution is not to stay behind tariffs but to engage in competition, and work together with regions all over the world to gain a better future.

He pointed out the initiative to establish GDTT is part of the solutions for the future.

Jusuf Wanandi, co-founder of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said that regional institutions such as GDTT will play a key role in studying and forecasting new global development trends, while contributing to the advancement of Asia.

GDToday Think Tank is a media-driven think tank established by Nanfang Media Group. It is playing a pivotal role in the group's efforts to drive the integrated development of GDToday, an international media organization.