"World Openness Report 2026" is released, these points are worthy of attention

What is the current trend of openness in the world? What new opportunities will China’s expansion of high-level opening up bring to the world? On November 5, the 9th Hongqiao International Economic Forum released the "World Openness Report 2026". The report takes "resolutely pursuing a more resilient and inclusive common opening" as the main line, and contributes wisdom to promoting the world's common opening and achieving common prosperity.

Highlight 1: The opening of the world encountered a cold wave but it has not reversed

The report shows that currently, world opening is in a complex and severe period of adjustment. The world openness index in 2025 will be 0.7453, a year-on-year decrease of 1%, the largest decline since 2016. The world's openness has tightened significantly, and the opening-up differentiation among major economies has intensified.

In 2025, the world opening policy index, which reflects the willingness of various economies to open up, was 0.7448, down 1.09% year-on-year; the opening performance index, which reflects the results of opening up, was 0.7458, down 0.90% year-on-year, interrupting the recovery momentum from 2023 to 2024.

The report believes that the forced promotion of unilateralism and protectionist measures by some major economies has constituted a major obstacle to expanding common opening up. However, the world openness performance index has increased by 10.71% since 1990, indicating that the long-term dividends of openness are still being released.

"To grasp the long-term law of openness, we must not only see the immediate resistance, but also the inherent need for open cooperation for sustainable development." Zhang Yuyan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said at the report release and international seminar that day that to achieve long-term development of the global economy, it is necessary to maintain knowledge and technology exchanges, deepen mutually beneficial division of labor, and respond to common challenges across national borders through cooperation.

In order to reflect the general public's feelings about openness, this year's report has added a new "Global Opinion Survey on the Situation of World Openness." The survey results show that people around the world are "cautiously optimistic" about their future expectations for world openness, and "enhancing mutual trust and lasting peace between countries" is considered the top priority in promoting world openness.

Point 2: China’s openness index ranking improves

The report shows that from 1990 to 2025, China's openness index rose from 0.5891 to 0.7551, an increase of 28.18%, ranking among the top in the world. In 2025, China's openness index ranking will increase by 1 place from 2024, 32 places from 2008, and 50 places from 1990.

"Against the backdrop of a significant tightening of world openness, China's relative ranking in openness has risen against the trend, and the overall level of openness continues to be at a historically high level." said Liao Fan, director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

From continuing to reduce the negative list for foreign investment access, to granting zero-tariff treatment to all least developed countries that have diplomatic relations with China on 100% of their tax items, and then to fully implementing zero tariffs for 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with China, China has provided the world with scarce certainty with its solid actions of continuing to expand independent and unilateral opening-up in recent years.

This year's World Openness Report has special chapters such as "China Opportunity 2.0" and APEC's "Year of China". "'China Opportunity 2.0' has brought market dividends and innovation dividends to the world. Open practices such as jointly building the 'Belt and Road', hosting the International Import Expo, and APEC's "Year of China" vividly demonstrate China's positive contribution to mutual trust and accessible global open cooperation." said Wang Xuekun, the main person in charge of the Hongqiao International Economic Forum Research Center.

Point 3: Digital economy, green and low-carbon, and South-South cooperation inject new impetus into openness

The report points out that the three major waves of the times, digital economy, green and low-carbon, and South-South cooperation, have injected more resilient new momentum into world opening and expanded new boundaries that are more inclusive.

Currently, digital technology and artificial intelligence are reshaping the international division of labor. According to data from relevant international institutions, from 2020 to 2024, the scale of global digital trade exports increased from US$4.59 trillion to US$7.23 trillion, with an average annual growth rate of 12.1%, which is higher than the growth rate of total global trade during the same period. In 2024, global exports of digitally deliverable services will reach US$4.64 trillion, accounting for 14.5% of total exports of goods and services.

The report believes that digital technology has greatly improved the tradability of cross-border services, allowing small, medium and micro enterprises and even ordinary entrepreneurs in developing countries to enter the global market at a lower cost. Green transformation not only opens up new growth space, but also reshapes the connotation of openness. Technology transfer, climate finance and capacity building all call for the strengthening, not weakening, of open cooperation.

"Especially for the Global South, the significance of opening up is not only to expand exports, but also to gain capital, technology and management experience and promote industrial upgrading by participating in the global value chain. This is the essence of 'more inclusive common opening'," Liao Fan said. (over)