Wang Yi addresses 1st high-level conference of Forum on Global Action for Shared Development

Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, attended and addressed the first high-level conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development held in Beijing on July 10, 2023. 

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, read out a congratulatory letter sent by President Xi Jinping to the conference at the beginning of the event. 

Wang said Xi's message of congratulations has shown China's sincerity in advancing the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and a firm resolve to implement the Global Development Initiative (GDI), and has set out a grand vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind. In 2021, Xi proposed the GDI as a resounding call for focusing on development and revitalizing cooperation. Over the past two years, China has worked with various GDI partners for concrete results in advancing the initiative, which has helped revitalize the international development agenda, facilitate many cooperation projects, build an extensive network of cooperation, and improve the lives of people around the world, Wang noted. 

Wang said the GDI is not a solo performance by China, but a chorus by all parties. The theme of the conference, "Global Development Initiative: Echo the Development Agenda and Call for Global Action", well captures the salient features of the GDI. China believes that global development should be pursued by people of all countries, and its benefit be shared by all. No country or individual should be left behind, he added.

Wang stressed that as the largest developing country in the world, China is naturally a member of the Global South. China will stay true to its status as a developing country, and stand firmly side by side with fellow countries of the South for shared development and joint revitalization. China will take more active, effective and sustainable steps to implement the GDI. China will also take more active, effective and sustainable actions in six aspects, namely supporting development as a priority agenda, improving the fostering of development projects, breaking the bottleneck of development financing, expanding ways of development cooperation, strengthening third party development cooperation, and supporting young people's leading role in development, to jointly open up development prospects and share development outcomes with countries around the world. China will continue to work with all countries to advance the GDI, sound the "bugle" for shared development, and build a "fast lane" for development cooperation, to jointly implement the UN's 2030 Agenda, and build a community with a shared future for mankind, Wang said.

Guests who attended and addressed the event online or onsite include Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands Manasseh Sogavare, President of Tanzania Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa, Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif, former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Nikolai Snopkov, and Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Saleumxay Kommasith. All parties highly appreciated China's efforts for global common development and expressed their willingness to strengthen development cooperation with China, so as to promote the implementation of the GDI and the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Hosted by the CIDCA, this forum attracted the onsite and online participation of representatives from relevant government departments of China, as well as representatives of 158 countries and international organizations.