China to hold global conference on development, new growth drivers

As the world is faced with increasing development deficits and intensifying global crisis, the second High-level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development to be held in Beijing is one of pragmatic steps of China to consolidate development consensus and promote win-win cooperation, a Chinese official said on Friday.

Zhao Fengtao, deputy head of China International Development Cooperation Agency, made the remarks at a news briefing.

The first conference of such kind was held last year as part of efforts to implement the China-proposed Global Development Initiative aiming to forge international consensus on development and foster new drivers for global growth.

As the United Nations will in September host the Summit of the Future to enhance cooperation on critical challenges, the conference, to be held from July 11 to 13, is also a show of China’s firm support to the UN summit and its steadfast commitment to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Zhao said.

He said China hopes to have in-depth exchanges of experiences on enhancing sustainable development capabilities, further expand network of friends to share resources and strengthen international development cooperation by deepening South-South cooperation.

It’s also hoped to advance cooperation of eight major areas of the GDI so as to inject new momentum into implementing the UN 2030 Agenda and provide insights for post-2030 global development, Zhao said.

According to Zhao, over 80 countries have joined the Group of Friends, which is a main platform for the GDI cooperation at the UN. China has provided 100,000 training opportunities for other developing countries to support their economic and social development, with 40,000 people trained so far covering all countries in the Group of Friends of the GDI.

China has increased the total funding of Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund to $4 billion and mobilized $12 billion special funds to support the GDI projects, he noted.

As a natural member of the Global South and the largest developing country, he said China would take the conference as an opportunity to promote North-South dialogue and realize complementary advantages.

China will push for continued discussions on reforming the multilateral development governance system and extending trilateral and multilateral cooperation under the framework of the GDI and UN 2030 Agenda, he added.

With the theme of promoting sustainable development, continuous action and creating the future together, main events of the conference include the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony, and five parallel forums around eight key cooperation areas of the GDI.

So far, high-level representatives from over 50 countries and international organizations will lead delegations to China for the meeting.

A live-streaming event for the global development, digital economy and e-commerce will be set up.

According to Zhao, heads of delegations and ambassadors to China will enter live-streaming rooms and promote their countries’ quality products and culture to share fruitful results of common development with a broader audience.

Nearly 100 ambassadors to China and representatives of international organizations in China will take part in the event in person. Representatives from Chinese and foreign companies, non-governmental organizations and foundations will also attend.