Speech

Briefing on New Progress of the Global Development Initiative, New Actions to Implement the 2030 Agenda

20 April 2023

Remarks by Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China, as prepared for delivery

His Excellency Mr. Zhang Jun,

His Excellency Mr. Luo Zhaohui,

Excellencies,

Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to thank the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations and China International Development Cooperation Agency for inviting the United Nations in China to co-host this briefing.

I am pleased to join you today at this briefing on the Global Development Initiative. China’s commitment to growing its foreign aid and international development cooperation efforts comes at a critical moment in our efforts to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The world is in desperate need of increased financing for development if we hope to achieve the ambitions outlined in the 2030 Agenda. I am sure many of you are also participating in the annual United Nations Financing for Development Forum, which is taking place this week, and where many of the challenges we face in accelerating and increasing financing, especially for the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states are being discussed and pathways to resolve these challenges are being proposed.

China’s establishment in 2021 of the Global Development Initiative and its recent upgrading of its Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund offers significant potential to fill some of these financing gaps, leverage China’s technological expertise to support developing country priorities, and ultimately, accelerate global progress towards achieving the SDGs.

The priority areas of GDI closely align with many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including in the areas of poverty eradication, food security, health, climate action, the planet, industrialization, innovation and means of implementation. We welcome such efforts, and we will continue to work with CIDCA and our Chinese counterparts to leverage these efforts to advance south-south cooperation and sustainable development globally in those areas.

As custodians and guarantors of the 2030 Agenda, however, the UN also needs to underscore that the 2030 Agenda is one cohesive and integrated agenda, encompassing all three pillars of the UN system: peace and security, human rights, and development. There is equal prioritization of all three pillars, along with the principle of Leaving No One Behind, which should be specifically centred on the individual.

As China’s development partner since 1979, the UN in China stands ready to offer its support, knowledge and expertise to fully align GDI outcomes with the SDGs.

Caption: Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China (left) with ZHANG Jun, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the UN (centre-left), LUO Zhaohui, Chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (centre-right), and Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, UN DESA (right)

Excellencies,

China leapfrogged from a per capita GDP of USD 180 in 1979 to USD 12500 in four decades. It has lifted over 750 million out of abject poverty. China can share incredible lessons for developing countries.

The third pillar of our cooperation framework with the Government of China is focused on partnerships, principally creating, expanding and leveraging partnerships between China (including the public sector, private sector, academia, and foundations) and other developing countries, particularly in Africa, to spur development progress. GDI can play a key role in this, and we will continue to work to ensure the success of these development projects and initiatives, by providing our technical expertise, using our convening power and ensuring that these projects are demand-driven and follow international norms and standards.

We are here today to learn more about and explore the potential of GDI, CIDCA and China’s development cooperation efforts more broadly. There is enormous opportunity for them to help us deliver on the SDGs. Multilateral engagement, learning and collaboration are essential, and the UN stands ready to support China in these efforts.

I hope today’s session helps to clarify China’s progress on implementing GDI and how it can help us all reach the future we want: a more sustainable, equitable, and peaceful future that leaves no one behind.

Thank you.