President highlights important role of GDI

President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to a forum on global development on Monday, saying that China is willing to work with the rest of the world to pursue more robust, greener and balanced global development.

Xi said in the letter that how to promote global development has become an important question faced by mankind, as the world experiences changes unseen in a century, amid a pandemic, the sluggish global economic recovery and a widening North-South development gap.

That's why China proposed the Global Development Initiative and stands ready to work with other countries to remain committed to a people-centered approach, benefits for all, innovation-driven development and harmony between man and nature, he said.

China is also willing to work with other countries to put development high on the global agenda and speed up the implementation of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Xi said.

Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, read Xi's congratulatory letter at the forum, saying that it explained the situation and challenges faced by global development and also set out ideas and proposals for implementing the GDI and promoting global development.

He said that the GDI proposed by Xi has received wide support from the international community and has helped to boost cooperation on global development.

The think tank and media forum themed "Global Development: Common Mission and Contributions "was held in Beijing by the State Council Information Office. More than 200 representatives from more than 60 countries, regions and international organizations attended the event both online and offline.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, the UN under-secretary-general and executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, told the forum that it is important to speed up collaborative efforts in order to realize the Sustainable Development Goals, as the process has suffered a severe slowdown.

She also praised the GDI and other initiatives for injecting more vitality into multilateralism and regional cooperation and for accelerating regional sustainable development.

Gilbert Houngbo, a former prime minister of Togo, said initiatives that aim to promote sustainable development through efforts such as boosting regional and global partnerships are particularly valuable amid the new and severe challenges faced in realizing the Sustainable Development Goals.

Houngbo, who is also president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, said he highly commended the priority areas as defined by the GDI such as poverty alleviation, food safety and green development, and he expected countries, regions and multilateral partners to have sustained dialogues on the most effective forms of cooperation.

Liu Jianna contributed to this story.