The first Sustainable Development Forum opened in Beijing on Thursday, and a report titled “China's Progress Report on Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2019)” was released at the forum.
From the end of 2015 to the end of 2018, the number of people living in poverty in rural areas decreased from 55.75 million to 16.6 million, with their per capita disposable income rising from 7,653 yuan (about US$1,093) to 10,371 yuan, the report said.
In 2018, China's GDP reached 90.03 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%. The country invested 2.18% of that year’s GDP in research and development, according to the report.
The 2030 Agenda was endorsed by 193 state leaders in September 2015. Since then, the Chinese government has been committed to carrying out the tasks illustrated in the agenda by being the first to publish its plans and submitting two progress reports in four years.
In order to accomplish the 2030 Agenda, China will remain committed to multilateralism and delivery of its promises; building an open and diverse world economy by achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration; eradicating poverty in rural areas by 2020 and creating 50 million jobs in urban areas over the 13th Five-Year Plan period; and going on a sustainable track of development.
Beijing has made significant progress in sustainable development. In 2018, the permanent population of the city dropped by 165,000. The scale of land used in urban and rural construction decreased by about 34 square kilometers, and the construction scale was reduced by 12.66 million square meters. Overall labor productivity rose from 227,000 yuan per person in 2017 to 240,000 yuan in 2019.
At the same time, innovative development is the core motive of sustainable development of the capital. Last year, the turnover of technology contracts in Beijing reached nearly 500 billion yuan, accounting for about 30% of the country’s total. The number of state-level high-tech enterprises added up to 25,000. The total income of enterprises above the designated scale in Zhongguancun Science Park has maintained double-digit growth annually for nearly 10 years.
Directed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the forum was jointly hosted by the Development Research Center of the State Council, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, the U.N. agencies based in China, and the Beijing Municipal Government, and undertaken by the China Center for International Knowledge on Development.
At the forum, 16 Chinese and foreign enterprises including Alibaba Group, China Three Gorges Corporation and Yili Group jointly initiated a proposal for the sustainable development of enterprises.
