CIDCA chairman attends Understanding China Conference

On Dec 1, Chen Xiaodong, chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), attended the 2025 Understanding China Conference in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, and delivered a speech titled "China's foreign assistance promotes the Global Development Initiative that benefits the world" at the opening ceremony.

Chen said that the recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) adopted at the fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China charted a new, grand blueprint of consistent efforts to advance Chinese modernization, and reiterated China's commitment to building a community with a shared future for humanity.

The China-proposed Global Development Initiative (GDI) helped bring development back to the center of the international agenda, injecting new momentum into achieving the United Nations' goals for sustainable development, he said.

Under the GDI framework, China pooled more than $23 billion for the development and vitalization of Global South countries, with more than 1,800 cooperation projects conducted, he noted.

He highlighted coordinated efforts in promoting major landmark projects and "small yet smart" projects, and in expanding new cooperation in the digital economy and connectivity in the digital era.

China provided assistance to those struggling through hard times, and gave a helping hand to the countries and people impacted by humanitarian crises including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Myanmar earthquake and Hurricane Melissa, fulfilling its responsibilities as a major country, he said.

Focusing on conveying knowledge, China trained more than 100,000 professionals across various sectors from developing countries and shared the development experience of Chinese modernization so as to support other countries in exploring sustainable development paths suited to their own national conditions, he added.

Many platforms for practical cooperation have been established, with successful efforts in hosting the High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development, and the China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Blue Economy Development Cooperation, according to Chen. More than 80 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative, and China issued a joint statement on strengthening global development cooperation together with 53 African countries and the African Union, he said.

Chen underscored that the CIDCA will view next year, which marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan period and the fifth anniversary of the GDI, as a new opportunity to actively implement major China-aid measures.

He expressed hope that the implementation of the GDI and the other three global initiatives — the Global Security Initiative, Global Civilization Initiative and Global Governance Initiative — and the advancement of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation will support the Global South in pursuing collective self-development.

He vowed to promote development cooperation to provide more international public goods so that more people around the world can have equal access to development benefits, contributing more to the establishment of more equal and balanced global development partnerships and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

The 2025 Understanding China Conference was co-hosted by the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, and the Guangdong provincial government.

More than 800 participants from over 70 countries and regions engaged in discussions around the conference's theme "New Plan, New Development, New Choices — Chinese Modernization and New Vision for Global Governance".