China, Germany agree to improve cooperation on international development assistance

Luo Zhaohui, chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), held discussions with Gerd Müller, German Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, via video link on April 27.

They exchanged views on strengthening China-Germany international development cooperation to prepare for the sixth round of China-Germany inter-governmental consultation.

Luo said that instability and uncertainty in the current international situation are increasing.

First, the global COVID-19 pandemic is serious and complex. Although countries are carrying out effective vaccination, the pandemic is still raging due to inadequate prevention and control policies and mutation of the virus.

Second, the global economy is encountering grave difficulties, including unbalanced economic recovery, prominent "sequela" of overdrawn stimulus, growing debt and financial risks and increasing instability in supply and industrial chains.

Third, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, as are ideological disputes. Some Western countries politicized pandemic prevention and control and interfered in China's internal affairs on issues related to Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

Against that background, China and Germany should bear in mind the big picture of global development and leverage their respective advantages to further strengthen international development cooperation, Luo said. The two countries should deepen bilateral cooperation in responding to the pandemic and promoting economic recovery, foreign aid legislation, policy dialogue and mutual visits and exchanges.

Luo also suggested, at the same time, the two sides conduct trilateral cooperation in key Asian and African countries on public health, pandemic prevention and control, climate change, poverty reduction and personnel training, so as to inject new impetus into the global fight against the pandemic and for economic recovery.

Müller congratulated Luo on assuming his new post at the CIDCA. He praised China's reform and development achievement and spoke highly of the country's contribution to international development cooperation and global anti-pandemic cooperation.

He said that Germany's Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development is willing to further strengthen dialogue with the CIDCA and deepen cooperation in such fields as the fight against the pandemic, responding to climate change, biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation, and also willing to choose cooperation projects in some Asian and African countries to make a common response to international development challenges.