Remarks by CIDCA Chairman Luo Zhaohui at the Opening Ceremony of the First High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development

Remarks by CIDCA Chairman Luo Zhaohui at the Opening Ceremony of the First High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development

(Beijing Friendship Hotel, July 10th 9:10 am)

Your Excellency Mr.Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs,

Your Excellency Mr. Manasseh Sogavare, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands,

Your Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Former United Nations Secretary-General,

Your Excellency Mr. Nikolai Snopkov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus,

Your Excellency Mr. SaleumxayKommasith, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of theLao People's Democratic Republic,

Your Excellency Mr. Laureano Facundo Ortega Murillo, Presidential Adviser of the Republic of Nicaragua, 

Ministers and Ambassadors, 

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning. Today, we gather here to attend the First High-level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development to jointly promote cooperation and development. First of all, on behalf of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), the host of this conference, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of you. 

Development is a timeless theme for humanity. Faced with a world of change and disorder, the issue of development is of greater historical significance. It is the common concern of the international community, namely condensing consensus on development, resetting development issue in the center of the international agenda, analyzing development difficulties, and boosting development course. 

Two years ago, President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI), linking up with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs). Last year, President Xi Jinping announced 32 concrete measures to implement the GDI. Today's event has witnessed the participation of 158 parties, including countries, regional and international organizations, and other institutions, onsite and online. Among them, high-level delegations from 23 countries and 36 international organizations attend the event in person. At this moment, attendees from around the world have jointly sent a strong message of our times for accomplishing development ambitions. This demonstrates a wide consensus reached by the international community to support the GDI while focusing on development. 

With a significant issue today, we share a glorious mission. As I said at yesterday's banquet, this conference is sending out one voice of development, action and solidarity. We need to take coordinated steps to advance the GDI and the SDGs, with no country and no one left behind. 

Friends, 

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the leaders and high-level representatives of relevant countries, envoys stationed in China, and representatives from UN agencies, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), international organizations, the private sector, social organizations, think tanks and universities, for their active engagement, online and in person. Of course, I would like to thank the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, the China Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of China, etc. for their full support to this conference. Meanwhile, I am also grateful to the heads of local governments of China for their attendance. 

And special thanks go to Director Wang Yi for taking time out of his busy schedule to attend this conference. Next, let's welcome him to read out the congratulatory letter of President Xi Jinping and deliver a speech with a warm round of applause.