June 20, 2023

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,

It is my great pleasure to attend this event. I wish to congratulate the Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD) on releasing the Progress Report on the Global Development Initiative (GDI). The report offers a review of the positive progress of the Initiative and an in-depth analysis of its important contributions to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It tells vivid stories of development about the global action of the Chinese initiative, and lays out useful policy recommendations for implementing the GDI. As the first progress report on the GDI, it is highly relevant for implementing the Initiative, achieving the 2030 Agenda and advancing international development cooperation.

The GDI is an important public good China provides to the international community in the new era, and an important practice of the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind in global development. In September 2021, President Xi Jinping put forward the GDI at the General Debate of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly. He called on the international community to prioritize development, pay attention to the special situations of developing countries, deepen cooperation on eight key areas, and pool efforts to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The GDI reflects the call of the world’s people for peace, development, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, and has been warmly received across the international community. More than 100 countries and international organizations have supported the GDI, and nearly 70 countries have joined the UN-based Group of Friends of the GDI.

In June 2022, President Xi Jinping chaired the High-Level Dialogue on Global Development. He called on the international community to act in unison and with great motivation to promote global development and foster a development paradigm featuring benefits for all, balance, coordination, inclusiveness, win-win cooperation and common prosperity. He also announced a series of major steps China will take to implement the GDI, and a list of deliverables with 32 measures that cover its eight key areas of cooperation was released, charting the course for GDI implementation. We are glad to see that over the past year, with the concerted efforts of all parties, the GDI is delivering real results, with improved cooperation mechanisms, steady progress in key areas, and various capacity-building programs being launched. It has brought true benefits to all countries.

Facts have shown that President Xi’s proposition of the GDI meets the trend of the times, the needs of developing countries and the people’s aspiration for a better life. It is a major contribution to global development.

Our world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century. Humanity has come to another historical crossroads. World economic recovery remains sluggish. Multiple challenges, including geopolitical tensions, climate change and food and energy crises, compound with each other. Global development faces a serious situation, with developing countries struggling to implement the 2030 Agenda. This year is the year of mid-term review of the 2030 Agenda, and the UN will convene the SDG Summit in September. The desire of developing countries for cooperation and development is stronger than ever. Some countries, however, disregard the legitimate concerns of developing countries and deliberately ignore the development issue. Sticking to the outdated Cold-War mentality, they act against the trend of globalization and are obsessed with stoking camp-based confrontation, building “a small yard with high fences”, decoupling, disrupting supply chains and imposing unilateral sanctions, which seriously undermine the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries. Facing such a complex and grave international situation, we should keep to the right direction of economic globalization, vigorously uphold the common values of humanity, and earnestly implement the GDI, so as to inject more certainty and positive energy to a world of turmoil and transformation and promote the development of developing countries.

—We need to expand global consensus on development. Only through development can we address the root causes of conflicts, safeguard the basic rights of the people, and meet their aspiration for a better life. Countries need to uphold a development-first approach, and avoid being taken off track by geopolitics or carried away by short-term interests. It is important to firmly promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, keep global industrial and supply chains smooth and stable, jointly build an open world economy, and bring global development back on track.

—We need to foster greater synergy between development strategies. We will actively promote global, regional, sub-regional and inter-state cooperation on development, and better synergize development strategies with members of the Group of Friends of the GDI as well as their regions, in particular major development strategies of developing country groups such as the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063 and ASEAN’s Vision 2025. This will help leverage each other’s strengths, unlock potential for cooperation, and promote interconnected development. We need to proceed with UN processes on development and forge synergy with the SDG Stimulus proposed by the UN Secretary General, so as to expedite the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

—We need to improve global allocation of development resources. We need to further mobilize development resources of governments, business communities, the academia and civil societies, and draw on their comparative strengths to improve resource allocation and the overall development level of developing countries. Developed countries need to earnestly shoulder their responsibilities by delivering on their commitments of official development assistance, development financing and climate financing, and by participating more in GDI cooperation in various fields, in order to make the global distribution of development resources more balanced.

—We need to focus on the sharing of development knowledge. As we in China often say, “It is more important to teach people how to fish than just giving them fish.” Global development requires intellectual support. For countries caught up in the development conundrum, knowledge on development is an important development resource. China stands ready to share its successful experience in Chinese modernization, and provide useful reference for fellow developing countries. The CIKD is an important institution devoted to promoting cooperation on international development knowledge whose establishment was announced by President Xi Jinping at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, and it is expected to make even more contributions to the studies of development theories, exchanges of development knowledge and cooperation on development.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,

China always bears in mind its status as a developing country. It always places its own development in the bigger context of human development, and sees its own future as closely intertwined with the future of the people around the world. No matter how much it develops, China will always be a member of the developing world and a partner and brother of fellow developing countries. The GDI is not China’s solo show, but a symphony played by the entire developing world. We will work with all parties to deliver concrete results in advancing the GDI, work for realizing the SDGs as scheduled, and perform a beautiful symphony of a community with a shared future for mankind.