2nd Sunshine Forum on International Development Cooperation opens in Beijing

The second Sunshine Forum on International Development Cooperation, hosted by the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), opened in Beijing on Oct 26, 2023. Chairman of the CIDCA Luo Zhaohui addressed the opening ceremony. 

In his remarks, Luo said that the past decade witnessed China's most significant contribution to global development cooperation, and China has emerged as a crucial leader and participant in the global development agenda. The China-proposed concepts such as the community of a shared future for mankind, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the Global Development Initiative (GDI) have conveyed a powerful message of the times to prioritize development and revitalize cooperation, he noted. China has actively carried out international cooperation in the fight against COVID-19, further advanced Belt and Road cooperation, and fully implemented the GDI, making significant contributions to global development, he said. 

Noting that supervision and evaluation play a vital and irreplaceable role in international development cooperation, Luo said that China has established a foreign assistance evaluation system with Chinese characteristics, featuring innovated policies, improved measures, tangible results and extensive cooperation. The Chinese government strives to integrate anti-corruption efforts with international development cooperation, and stands ready to work with all parties to foster a clean and honest environment for international development cooperation, he added.

In concluding, Luo said that profound evolution of changes unseen in a century has brought grave challenges to global sustainable development, and we need to give full play to the key roles of monitoring, evaluation, statistics and anti-corruption. He called for keeping up with the times, embracing innovation, treating each other as equals, showing mutual respect, enhancing exchanges and mutual learning, and deepening cooperation, in a bid to jointly promote the sound and high-quality development of international development cooperation. 

Vice-President of the Laos-China Cooperation Committee Xaysana Sitthiphone; Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs and Privatization of Pakistan Shamshad Akhtar; and Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF Kitty van der Heijden delivered remarks via video link. Permanent Representative of the African Union to China Rahamtalla M Osman Elnor and the World Health Organization Representative to China Martin Taylor delivered addresses onsite. 

All parties spoke highly of China's contribution to global development over the years, stressed the important role of monitoring, evaluation, statistics and anti-corruption in promoting high-quality development of international development cooperation, and called for further exchanges and cooperation so as to jointly contribute to the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

After the opening ceremony, Luo, together with the CIDCA's Vice-Chairman Deng Boqing and attending foreign diplomats and representatives of international organizations, released Evaluation of the East Asia Poverty Reduction Cooperation Pilot Project, and China's Foreign Aid Project Evaluation (FAPE) System of the International Development Cooperation: China's Practice.

Themed "Supervision, Evaluation and Anti-corruption of the International Development Cooperation", the forum was attended by over 200 people from the governments of China and other countries, international organizations,  international financial institutions and think tanks.