Remarks by Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China
I wish to commend the China NGO Network for International Exchanges for their efforts in promoting the role and significance of China-Africa relations.
Dialogue between NGOs, civil society, and academic here in China and in Africa plays a crucial role in facilitating the needed exchange of knowledge, resources, and technical expertise required to achieve sustainable development.
In China, NGOs and civil society have played their part in supporting the Sustainable Development Goals, perhaps most notably in contributing to the lifting of over 750 million people out of extreme poverty.
As noted by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, “China’s achievements provide valuable lessons in poverty alleviation that are being shared with other countries through South-South Cooperation.”
A major part of my 25-year career has been spent in Africa, and it is in Africa where I witnessed the massive potential that can be unleashed with people-to-people exchange and strengthened cooperation between China and Africa, and it is here that I have dedicated my resources as UN Resident Coordinator in China.
Since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in the year 2000, China-Africa cooperation has given new impetus to South-South cooperation.
As we prepare for the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to be held later this month in Dakar, we are confident that FOCAC will retain its reputation as a win-win partnership and a pragmatic cooperation platform.
In this regard, it is important to build synergy between FOCAC, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Agenda 2063 of the African Union and the national development strategies of China and countries in Africa.
Thanks to digital technologies and innovation, Africa could leapfrog into the Fourth Industrial Revolution and unlock its huge demographic potential, becoming the future of the world’s market, with the right political will, public policies, and partnerships.
Over 40 per cent of Africa's agricultural produce is wasted every year due to post-harvest loss. Africa should be the world's breadbasket, yet it imports nearly US 60-70 billion dollars of food. There is massive potential for agribusiness in Africa, which will rise to US 1 trillion dollars by 2030.
The healthcare business potential in Africa is $400 billion, and a $700 billion market will exist for affordable housing.
By 2050, Africa’s population will grow to 2.3 billion, with over 850 million young people. But realizing Africa’s demographic dividend requires we invest in Africa’s human development and economic growth today. It is time for China to further enhance its role in Africa.
My arrival in China coincides with the first year of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for the People’s Republic of China 2021-2025, jointly signed between the Government of China and the UN in China.
The new UNSDCF will help China meet and respond to new opportunities and challenges presented by its post-2020 development landscape and realize the full potential of China’s international engagement to promote its partnerships and accelerate achievement of the SDGs across the world.
Understanding the impact of China’s international development cooperation, the UN in China now desires to share China’s development lessons through South-South Cooperation, focusing on Africa, and will play its role to convene, connect, and catalyse the necessary stakeholders to create progress.
As part of this process, I am keen to engage with all stakeholders, including the private sector, academia, and civil society, in partnership platforms aimed at leveraging knowledge and resources to achieve the SDGs, in China and beyond.
In this context, we are seeking to establish the SDG Partnership Platform to connect China with African countries on rural revitalization and food systems transformation.
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the restoration of China’s lawful seat in the UN.
In his remarks on this important milestone, President Xi Jinping quoted an ancient Chinese poem and said, “Green hills immerse in the same cloud and rain. The same moon lights up towns however far away.”
In the Decade of Action to achieve the SDGs, let us work in this spirit to leave no one behind.