UN representatives express high hopes for China's GDI

Representatives from United Nations agencies in China welcomed the country's Global Development Initiative on Thursday, saying it demonstrated the spirit of multilateralism and internationalism.

They also said the initiative was aligned with and accelerated the development of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals against a backdrop of combined challenges brought about by changes and a pandemic unseen in a century.

President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Development Initiative at the general debate of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly, aiming at working together to steer global development toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated and inclusive growth.

Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China, said at a workshop the GDI was fully in lockstep with the SDGs and hoped it could be engaged with both at the global and local level.

Noting China has eradicated absolute poverty, he said China was actually "moving the global development agenda" and hoped to share this knowledge with many other parts of the developing world.

As the COVID-19 rages across the world, he also commended China's efforts to help African countries weather difficulties and bridge the vaccination gap.

China decided to provide another 1 billion vaccines to African countries in the just-concluded eighth Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which according to the coordinator demonstrated the principle put forward by Xi on the road to the well-being of all mankind, no country or nation should be left behind.

"The United Nations stands ready to provide the best technical assistance, support and advice to make sure the Global Development Initiative, as the UN Secretary-General said, achieves global norms and standards and becomes a best practice," he said.

Stephen Kargbo, UN Industrial Development Organization representative and head of the regional office in China, DPR Korea and Mongolia, said there were a lot of synergies his agency and the UN could leverage to work together with China.

Noting China had lifted the largest number of people out of poverty, he said industrialization was part of the story and many developing countries had a lot to learn and gain from the experience of China.

"China has expressed its willingness to work together, work as equal partners and for both parties to win, which are crucial and fundamental in any development cooperation," he added.

The future of development cooperation through the GDI was "very bright", he said.

Carlos Watson, the Food and Agriculture Organization representative to China, lauded China for staying committed to harmony between man and nature.

As one of the priorities of the GDI was climate change, he said sustainable agriculture is key and there is complete synergy between GDI's call and FAO's work that aimed to promote agricultural resilience and sustainability.

He expressed his hope other countries would also come up with initiatives like GDI and added he was happy to see when any member country puts in extra effort to accelerate the SDG agenda in climate and environment.

China's Vice-Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said at the workshop the GDI identified eight priority areas of cooperation and called for stronger global development partnerships.

It also aimed to address the special needs of developing countries and was committed to bridging the North-South gap and eradicating inequalities within countries, he added.

Since it was proposed, the GDI had been highly commanded by all parties on multiple occasions, including the eighth Ministerial Meeting of the FOCAC and the third Ministerial Meeting of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, he said.

"This is a testament that GDI represents what developing countries really want and meets the common aspirations of the international community to accelerate implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda."