Over 100 experts discuss South-South cooperation on digital innovation

More than 100 representatives from governments, international organizations, embassies and academic institutions gathered in Beijing online and in person on Friday to discuss feasible ways of promoting digital innovation and transformation related to South-South cooperation.

They also witnessed the launch of South-South Cooperation Knowledge Sharing (www.wfpchinacoe.net), a knowledge-sharing website to introduce China's experiences and solutions on food security. The website has been supported and developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, The United Nations World Food Programme and China International Communications Group.

Du Zhanyuan, president of China International Communications Group, called for catching the opportunities brought by digitization, and make digital transformation an indispensable force to accelerate economic and social development.

He also said that developing countries, poor people and vulnerable groups will face more challenges due to multiple crises.

Du quoted a research showing that the population living in poverty in 2022 will increase by 64 million compared with 2019, the time before the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is more important and necessary to strengthen South-South cooperation to promote sustainable development goals such as poverty eradication, hunger eradication and food security through knowledge sharing, and to promote developing countries to unite for self-improvement and jointly seek the path to development and prosperity, he said.

Xie Jianmin, an official from the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that the knowledge-sharing platform and cloud school can use digital technology to promote knowledge, technology and experience from China and other countries to help more developing nations to improve their food production capacity and resilience to disasters.

Rahamtalla M. Osman, African Union's representative to China, said it is important to apply the digital tools to save lives from the threat of hunger and malnutrition as the world is experiencing remarkable technological transformations.

Jin Nuo, professor from the Renmin University of China, said that as the largest developing country in the world, China has solved the food problem of 20 percent of the global population with 8 percent of the world's cultivated land.

She also noted that China should promote its agricultural development experience and technology to help other developing countries to ensure food security in these nations and the rest of the world.

Siddharth Chatterjee, United Nations' resident coordinator in China, said that South-South cooperation and humanitarian cooperation will serve as the foundation for all of the UN System's work in and with China over the next five years, and will support China's high-quality development and provide the basis for cooperation with the nation in assisting other developing countries around the world in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

A memorandum of understanding on strengthening South-South cooperation was signed between WFP and CICG by Gao Anming, vice-president and editor-in-chief of CICG, and Qu Sixi, the representative of the World Food Program in China.

According to the MOU, both parties have pledged to develop South-South cooperation knowledge products, provide training, and share China's technical solutions, best practices, experiences and development approaches with other developing countries.