Yicai:

This year marks the mid-term evaluation period for the U.N. 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and this is also a time when the cause of global development is facing tremendous challenges. As a specialized government organ dedicated to foreign assistance, as well as international cooperation and development, what actions has the CIDCA taken to implement the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the GDI? Thank you.

Luo Zhaohui:

This’s also a good question, and Mr. Zhao will answer.

Zhao Fengtao:

Thanks for your question. In 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the GDI, which closely aligns with the implementation of the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and makes a strong call for focusing on development and enhancing cooperation. The GDI is a Chinese initiative, a global public development platform, and an extension of the Belt and Road Initiative. In the two years since the GDI’s introduction, the CIDCA has undertaken extensive work, resulting in numerous achievements.

We have expanded our development partnerships and enhanced our cooperative mechanisms. The Group of Friends of the GDI was launched by China’s Permanent Mission to the U.N., drawing participation from more than 70 countries. We established a GDI promotion group to accelerate the implementation of various measures. The CIDCA has fostered close connections with more than 30 countries and international organizations, as well as Chinese financial organizations, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, resulting in the signing and implementation of related cooperation documents. Additionally, the Global Development Promotion Center was established within the CIDCA, attracting 44 countries and regional and international organizations to take part in its network.

We have raised plenty of development resources to promote pragmatic cooperation, such as upgrading the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund and increasing its funding to $4 billion, establishing pools of global development projects and its funds, releasing guidelines for the project pool and its financing, and attracting participation of multiple entities from the government and society through joint investment, targeted donations, beneficiary financing, etc. Just as our chairman mentioned, we have also raised a special fund of $12 billion to support the implementation of GDI projects. At the same time, we follow a market-oriented approach and flexibly use multiple models to combine free assistance with the $12 billion special fund to accelerate the creation of new development assistance demonstration projects.

We have built a consensus on development and set up action platforms. The CIDCA will organize the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development in an institutionalized manner since the first edition held in July of this year, and will host the Sunshine Forum on International Development Cooperation and China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation under the framework of GDI. In April and September of this year, we held a briefing on the promotion of the GDI and a high-level meeting on the GDI cooperation achievement demonstration at the UN headquarters, establishing international platforms for promoting GDI implementation.

We have enhanced development capacities and promoted common prosperity. Under the GDI framework, a total of 100,000 training opportunities have been provided to support the post-pandemic economic recovery in developing countries. So far, 30,000 people have been trained, covering all countries of the Group of Friends of the GDI. An innovation training base of the Global Development Promotion Center has been set up in Xiamen and offered offline training classes for students from 36 countries this year.

Although the journey ahead may be long and arduous, with sustained actions, we will eventually reach our destination. Only when we walk together can the development path become broader and smoother. We expect to join hands with all parties that aspire to join in global development, further leverage the role of GDI as a treasure house, catalyst, and accelerator, and make more contributions to the implementation of the GDI and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Thank you!