Wang Yi: China’s initiative boosts UN 2030 Agenda implementation

By MINLU ZHANG at the United Nations 27-09-2024

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday at United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York that no country can be left behind in the worldwide modernization process, and emphasized China’s solutions for the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said at an event themed “Global Development Initiative Supports the Global South-China in Action” that the GDI “prioritizes supporting the development and revitalization of countries in the Global South”.

The event took place on the sidelines of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.

GDI, or the Global Development Initiative, was put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the UN in September 2021.

Since the inception of the GDI, it has evolved from a Chinese proposition to an international consensus, and from a cooperation concept to joint action, contributing China’s solutions and injecting Chinese strength into the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda, Wang said.

Over the past three years, China has worked with more than 100 countries and international organizations on the initiative.

Wang said the cooperation added “impetus to promoting the development of the Global South, advancing the cause of global development and accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.

In the past three years, more than 100 countries and over 20 international organizations have actively supported and participated in the initiative. More than 70 countries and international organizations have become part of the Global Development Promotion Center Network.

The initiative is project-led and mobilizes resources, making use of the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund and the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund. It encourages more parties to fund projects, according to a brochure released at the event.

More than 1,100 projects launched under the initiative’s framework, and over 600 projects already have been carried out by the Global Development Project Pool.

The initiative contains all-round cooperation, strengthening it to serve all 17 SDG goals put forward by the UN. It also focuses on challenges such as food and energy insecurity, poverty, and supply and industrial chain disruptions, the brochure said.

The initiative has continuously consolidated the consensus on prioritizing development, becoming a practice of building a community with a shared future for mankind, Wang said.

“We stand ready to deepen cooperation with all parties within the GDI and accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, so that the gains of modernization will benefit every country and every person,” he said.

Philemon Yang, president of the General Assembly session, attended the event and said that the GDI proposed by China has shown “strong leadership and received support from many countries”.

Yang said the initiative is of great significance because it provides a new path to accelerate the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals and help countries in the Global South.

The event also was attended by UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua, and ministerial-level officials from more than 20 countries, including Laos, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Burundi, Uganda, Burkina Faso, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.