High-level event sheds light on efforts to accelerate financing for development

The event was organized during the occasion of the 2023 Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Financing for Development Forum, where Member States discussed difficult economic policy trade-offs and recent shocks that have threatened to further reverse progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the need for both immediate and longer-term measure to effectively finance responses to multiple overlapping crises while scaling up essential investments in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Given this context, the UN System has welcomed the potential of China’s Global Development Initiative (GDI), announced by President Xi Jinping during his address to the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly in September 2021, while encouraging its alignment with the SDGs and supporting its implementation through the offer of technical assistance to ensure compliance with international norms and standards.

In closing remarks, Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China, said, “We are here today to learn more about and explore the potential of GDI, CIDCA and China’s development cooperation efforts. 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.”

Whilst taking place in the United States, the event intends to form part of country-level programming and results between the UN in China and the Government of China.

In opening remarks, Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the UN, said, “As we speak, the world today is fraught with intertwined challenges and crises, and is faced with a new normal of instability and uncertainty. The international community must come together to tide over the trying times and bring the implementation of the SDGs back on track.”

The event sought to inform participants of results achieved through China’s foreign aid and international development cooperation, including the GDI, and how CIDCA and other relevant stakeholders can address the gap in development financing needed to achieve the SDGs while ensuring that vulnerable groups benefit from actions that are demand-driven and based on national priorities, in order to leave no one behind.

In keynote remarks, Luo Zhaohui, Chairman of CIDCA, said, “According to UN statistics, more than 800 million people still go hungry, and 350 million people need humanitarian assistance. The development agenda is drifting away, and the momentum of the SDGs is fading away. We should cherish the global consensus on the SDGs, and act jointly for common development.”

During the event, participants engaged in an interactive discussion, which saw speakers from the Global Development Promotion Center at CIDCA, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and the Rockefeller Foundation raise points regarding progress in the implementation of the GDI, the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund and other international development cooperation efforts.

During the discussion, Elizabeth Yee, Executive Vice President of Programs at The Rockefeller Foundation, said, “The world needs public-private-philanthropic partnerships and bold leadership to help emerging and developing economies achieve their sustainable development goals. We need to coordinate our investments and actions across countries and sectors to end energy poverty, ensure food security, improve people’s health, and cultivate sustainable growth, even as we continue to combat climate change.”

At the event's conclusion, participants joined a reception and a following exhibition introduced by the Chairman of CIDCA on efforts thus far regarding the GDI.

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For further information, please contact:

Louise Xi LI, Head of Communications, UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in China                     

Tel: +8610-85320725, Email: xi.li@un.org