Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu attended the opening ceremony of the symposium on "Promoting the Global Development Initiative and Jointly Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development"
On December 9, 2021, Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu attended the opening ceremony of the symposium on "Promoting the Global Development Initiative and Jointly Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" and delivered a speech.
The symposium was co-chaired by Wang Xiaolong, Director of the Department of International Economics of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Chang Qide, the coordinator of the United Nations Development System in China.
Representatives of relevant United Nations development agencies in China and representatives of relevant Chinese departments attended the meeting.
Ma Zhaoxu said that President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Development Initiative, calling on the international community to boost the global development partnership, accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and promote a stronger, greener, and healthy global development.
This is China's plan to support the development of developing countries, promote the recovery of the global epidemic, and strengthen international development cooperation.
The initiative advocates development priority, pays attention to the special needs of developing countries, focuses on the outstanding challenges facing global development and new opportunities that have emerged, and proposes eight key areas of cooperation to provide a feasible path for accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
The initiative closely follows the 2030 Agenda, calls for the strengthening of global development partnerships, supports the United Nations in playing a coordinating role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, promotes the process of multilateral development cooperation, and helps achieve the goals of sustainable development.
The initiative puts forward that no country or anyone will be left behind, and work to bridge the gap between the North and the South and eliminate inequality within the country.
Ma Zhaoxu said that since the Global Development Initiative was put forward more than two months ago, it has received enthusiastic responses from the international community.
All parties attending the 8th Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the China-Pacific Island Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the 30th Anniversary Summit of the Establishment of Dialogue Relations between China and ASEAN, and the 3rd Ministerial Meeting of the China-LAC Forum highly praised China’s initiatives.
This fully shows that the initiative conforms to the common aspirations of the vast number of developing countries and conforms to the common desire of the international community to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
Ma Zhaoxu emphasized that this year marks the 50th anniversary of New China's restoration of its legal seat in the United Nations.
As the largest developing country, China always regards development as the top priority in governing and rejuvenating the country, adheres to the people-centered development concept, attaches great importance to and actively participates in the work of the United Nations in the field of economic and social development, takes the lead in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and takes the lead in implementing 2030 Agenda.
China has historically eliminated absolute poverty, contributing more than 70% of the world’s poverty reduction and making important contributions to the promotion of global development.
China’s launch of the Global Development Initiative is to call on the international community to jointly support the work of the United Nations, promote development at the core of the global macro policy framework, and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
Ma Zhaoxu emphasized that Secretary-General Guterres expressed his full support for the initiative and is willing to cooperate with China in this regard.
The initiative provides new and important opportunities for cooperation between China and the United Nations and its development system.
China is willing to work hand in hand with the United Nations to jointly advance global development initiatives.
One is to focus on development.
It is hoped that the various development agencies of the United Nations will accurately grasp the positioning of their work, proceed from the need to accelerate the implementation of the agenda, and promote global development through participation in initiatives and cooperation.
The second is to strengthen docking.
It is hoped that the United Nations development agency will take into account the actual needs of developing countries, in-depth docking with global, regional, and sub-regional development cooperation processes, build a broad network of global development partners, and advance the 2030 Agenda.
The third is to deepen cooperation.
It is hoped that various institutions will actively plan and carry out key pragmatic cooperation projects with China.
The fourth is to strengthen coordination.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China will continue to support various agencies to conduct business in China, discuss new areas and new ways of cooperation with all parties using the Global Development Initiative as a platform to achieve a win-win situation in cooperation.
Chang Qide and the representatives of the United Nations Development Agency in China who attended the meeting highly praised China's remarkable achievements in implementing the 2030 Agenda, and welcomed and supported the global development initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping.
All parties agree with the concept of priority development and people-centeredness emphasized by the initiative, and highly recognize the eight key areas of cooperation proposed by the initiative.
All parties believe that due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has encountered major setbacks, and countries are facing severe challenges in achieving the sustainable development goals.
At this critical moment, the global development initiative proposed by China aims at accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, which will inject new impetus into the promotion of global development.
Representatives of development agencies at the meeting said that the Global Development Initiative is highly compatible with the work priorities and strategies of various agencies, and they are willing to make full use of the resources, expertise, and partner networks of various agencies to support the implementation of the initiative from the headquarters and representative offices in China.
In combination with current work priorities, various agencies will discuss entry points and specific measures to promote cooperation in global development initiatives in areas such as poverty reduction, food security, green transformation, clean energy, anti-epidemic cooperation, industrialization, digital economy, and interconnection. Put forward working ideas and ideas for advancing the initiative through deepening South-South cooperation and tripartite cooperation.
The Chinese and foreign parties agreed to continue to carry out the next step of work on advancing the global development initiative, and to organize seminars and other related activities again at an appropriate time, to brainstorm, build consensus, and take pragmatic actions to promote the stable and long-term initiative of the initiative, and help implement the 2030 Agenda.
The symposium was co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the Coordinator of the United Nations Development System in China, aiming to conduct in-depth exchanges on advancing global development initiatives and accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and to plan ideas and measures for cooperation.
United Nations Development Programme, UNICEF, World Bank, FAO, UNFPA, WFP, World Health Organization, UNESCO, International Labour Organization, UNHCR, International Monetary Fund, Industrial Development Organization, Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization Representatives from the Center, UNEP, World Intellectual Property Organization, International Organization for Migration, International Agricultural Development Fund and other institutions in China, as well as representatives of relevant domestic departments and academic institutions attended the meeting.