Egypt praises China-proposed Global Development Initiative

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly hailed the China-proposed Global Development Initiative as a practical response to help accelerate the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals on Friday.

He made a video speech when addressing the opening ceremony of the Second High-level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development which was held in Beijing.

The successive crises and changes in the world have posed unprecedented challenges to development paths, increased the cost of achieving the SDGs, and widened the financing gap for developing and emerging countries, he said.

Noting the importance of economic cooperation between Global South countries and emerging economies is self-evident, he said it is more urgent than ever for countries to make concerted efforts.

He lauded the GDI as a practical response to the efforts to address these challenges, adding that it is also conducive to mobilizing all forces and injecting more impetus into the realization of the SDGs.

Particularly, he mentioned the GDI's eight priority areas for cooperation, including poverty reduction and food security, saying they are consistent with the most salient development priorities of emerging economies, especially the Egypt Vision 2030.

Egypt looks forward to strengthening a comprehensive and sustainable partnership with the Chinese side beyond bilateral relations, which includes tripartite cooperation, in particular with African countries, he added.