China's hosting of the G20 Summit 2016 highlights a dramatic shift in the international community's approach towards economic development. 

"It is a very historic moment in global economic governance. China has not hosted the G20 before," said Jim O'Neil, commercial secretary to the treasury of the British Government, during an interview with Xinhua via the China Daily.

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O'Neil expects China to play a "very important role" in pushing for economic cooperation among member countries at the G20 Summit 2016.

"I think China can play a very important role (at the Hangzhou Summit) in a broader sense of economic cooperation," he continued. "China has become the second largest economy in the world, on some criteria, purchasing power parity, it is already the largest or close to it."

"We need to have, in order to sustain global economic growth, shared consensus - not necessarily the same policies but shared consensus, about the appropriate policies that come from different parts of the world," he added.

O'Neil, who was responsible for coining the acronym BRIC to describe the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, noted that China will have the opportunity to help nurture the growth of other developing countries when it hosts the G20 Summit 2016.

"I think it can help others, especially in the emerging world, of moving down a similar path and contributing to a stable and more prosperous world economy," he said.

The former chief economist of Goldman Sachs pointed out that China has had "remarkable success," in improving the welfare and wealth of its 1.3 billion people despite the many challenges the country had to confront.

In the meantime, O'Neill reported that the findings of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, which was established in order to find ways to address the threat of superbugs, will be discussed during the upcoming G20 Summit 2016.

According to the review's findings, superbugs are becoming stronger and more resistant to the antibiotics they are being exposed to.

These superbugs could potentially kill 10 million people each year - at least one million of which in China - and could cost to the world economy a staggering 20 trillion U.S. dollars by 2050 unless immediate action is taken by the international community.

O'Neil is hopeful that progress will be made at the China G20 summit 2016 in addressing this global medical concern, as discussions have already started at the so-called G20 Sherpa Level. 

Tagschina, G20 Summit 2016, G20 summit