Fifth Hongqiao International Economic Forum: Accelerating Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization through South-South Cooperation - Exploring the role of industrial parks and special economic zones

A recording of these remarks can be found on YouTube and Tencent Video

Excellencies,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) for jointly organizing this parallel session, to explore the topic of industrial parks and South-South Cooperation.

This event is a timely opportunity to promote further collective action to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Over the past three years, we have experienced a confluence of challenges in the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate emergency, and conflicts along with rising inequalities and divisions.

Our response will take a systematic approach across sectors, regions and generations to meet the challenges of our time and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Here, South-South Cooperation is a promising tool that offers a broad framework of collaboration among countries of the Global South.

It can contribute to strengthened cooperation in numerous domains and can help developing countries meet their development priorities through new opportunities for technical assistance, including capacity building, transfer of technology, and the exchange of knowledge and experiences.

Touching on these experiences, the UN in China continue to provide its technical expertise and support to stakeholders working across the SDG thematic areas to help align projects with recognized international norms and standards.

Last year, we designed localized performance indicator systems as part of the guidelines for the establishment of sustainable parks. These systems propose specific decarbonization initiatives for industries, including transportation, agriculture and food, industrial manufacturing, construction, digital and information and financial services—while offering case studies for companies to better understand decarbonization.

The UN has been a trusted development partner of China for over 40 years. This now extends to its activities under the framework of South-South and Triangular Cooperation.

For example, UNIDO offered its experience in cooperating with Chinese counterparts on industrial parks and special economic zones established at the beginning of opening-up and reform, in the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian.

The UNIDO Center for South-South Industrial Cooperation, jointly established by the Government of China and UNIDO, now utilizes these experiences to facilitate South-South Cooperation efforts, particularly in the areas of traditional development and capacity building, along with the promotion of dynamic public-private partnerships.

Building on this momentum and using our global networks, the UN in China now seeks to draw on its access to UN Country Teams in Global South countries, particularly those in Africa, to share China’s expertise, experiences, and resources in responding to local development needs and priorities, with a view to instilling best practices in China’s international cooperation efforts.

In September 2022, we supported an event at the request of the representatives of Horn of Africa countries concerning development cooperation under the umbrella of the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation.

The event set out to convene, connect and catalyze action from relevant stakeholders to encourage new partnerships, including Public-Private Partnerships, and help leapfrog the green revolution in Africa. Here, our efforts will continue.

The UN in China remains committed to fulfilling its obligations as a strategic development partner of the Government of China, to bring forth its knowledge and technical expertise in order to accelerate global progress on the SDGs and realize the 2030 Agenda.

Thank you.