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

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

(Beijing Friendship Hotel, July 10, 2023)

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

Your Excellency Mr. Albert Shingiro, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Burundi,

Your Excellency Mr. Hermann Immongault, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Gabonese Republic,

Your Excellency Mr. Odongo Jeje, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uganda,

Your Excellency Mr. Muhammad Abdul Mannan, Minister of Planning of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh,

Your Excellency Mr. Eloy Álvarez Martínez, Minister of Industry of the Republic of Cuba, 

Your Excellency Ms. Rania Abdulmone Mohamed Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation of the Arab Republic of Egypt, 

Your Excellency Dr. Kan Zaw, Minister of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar,

Your Excellency Professor Ahsan Iqbal, Minister of Planning of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,

Your Excellency Dr. Min Bahadur Shrestha, Vice-Chairman of National Planning Commission of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal,

H.E. Ambassadors,

Distinguished guests, 

Ladies and gentlemen,

The First High-level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development is coming to an end. This is a conference of consolidating development consensus, resolving development difficulties, achieving fruitful outcomes, and co-investing in our future. On behalf of the host, I would like to thank the speakers at four sub-forums for sharing their outcomes respectively, thank my colleague Vice-Chairman Mr Zhao Fengtao for his elaboration of relevant outcome papers. Of course, I would like to extend heartfelt thanks again to all the friends participating in the conference, both onsite and online. Without your in-depth involvement, this conference would not be so successful.

First, reconsolidating development consensus. This year marks the mid-term review of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With over half the time elapsed, only 12 percent of the targets have been completed. The conference unanimously agreed to persist with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and recognized that the Global Development Initiative (GDI) aligns with the urgent needs of developing countries. The participants all agreed that the SDGs and GDI should be advanced coordinatedly, in line with countries’ development strategies.  Especially, cooperation enforcement should be placed on areas such as poverty reduction, food security, health, climate change and green development, as well as connectivity. The participants called for dialogue and consultation to resolve hotspot issues to foster a favorable environment for development.

Second, gathering all parties' resources. We live in the same global village. Only through collective development can we achieve the best progress. The conference agreed that the United Nations should strengthen its coordination and prioritize the needs of developing countries, especially LDCs and small island nations. We should deepen South-South cooperation continuously, promote North-South dialogue, leverage complementary advantages, uphold common but differentiated responsibilities, and foster a new type of North-South relations. We must fully mobilize development resources from multilateral financial institutions, private enterprises, and social organizations, as well as oppose politicizing development issues.

Third, tackling development challenges. We are living in an era of intertwined changes and complexities, in the background of post-pandemic recovery. The conference acknowledged that the pursuit of cooperation and development by the developing countries had been a trend of the times. Every country has its development projects, however the bottleneck for development is financing. Last year, President Xi Jinping announced the establishment of the Global Development Project Pool and the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund. This conference agreed to establish the project pool and funding pool, mobilizing resources from multiple sides, innovating financing models, expanding financing scale, and addressing development difficulties. We need to adhere to problem-oriented and action-oriented approaches, use the "two pools" and related funds effectively, and turn China's initiative into a true global action.

Fourth, achieving important outcomes. The main achievements of the conference could be summarized as "1+2+6". "1" refers to the Beijing Statement. With the joint efforts of onsite high-level representatives from relevant countries, the conference agreed to issue the Beijing Statement, reaffirming development consensus, emphasizing development key points, and defining development tasks.

"2" refers to "two pools". For this, we publish the Guidelines on Global Development Project Pool and the Guidelines on Global Development Project Pool Financing.

"6" refers to three financing cooperation agreements signed by the China International Development Cooperation Agency with the China Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of China, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank respectively. These documents encompass China's policy banks and multilateral financial institutions. Based on the consensus through negotiation, the newly raised development funds will be invested mainly in the eight areas of the GDI, focusing on "small yet smart" projects, and boosting South-South cooperation. China also signed cooperation documents with the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Gates Foundation respectively, as well as announced the establishment of the "Youth Leaders’ Community for Global Development ".

Friends,

There is a popular saying in China, "the music is over and people are gone". The conference today is coming to an end, but the music of GDI is never gone. The implementation of GDI is always on the way. China is not only an advocate of the GDI, but also an active pusher of development cooperation. China is willing to increase resource input into global development cooperation, strives to narrow the North-South gap, and firmly supports and assists developing countries to accelerate development. China is ready to continue taking positive actions, playing a leading role, working hand in hand with all countries, and constantly striving to achieve the GDI and SDGs. Let's anticipate the next grand gathering!

Now, I am honored to declare the First High-level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development closed!

Thank you!