UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterreson Tuesday thanked the Chinese government for hosting a high-level meeting on the Global Development Initiative (GDI) on the sidelines of the general debate of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly and urged the international community to reinvigorate multilateral cooperation and make substantive progress on the Sustainable Development Goals amid mounting global economic uncertainties.
“I thank the government of China for hosting us under the theme ‘Recommit to our original aspirations, unite to build a brighter future of global development.’ We gather as economic uncertainty deepens a fragile outlook, marked by fiscal constraints, geopolitical tensions, unilateral trade measures, growing fragmentation and escalating climate risk,” Guterres said.
The GDI can be an important mechanism to help accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development around the world, Guterres said, adding that he has noted the points expressed by Chinese Premier Li Qiang in relation to the objectives and the mechanisms put in place to make the initiative even more effective at the global level.
China will launch another 2,000 “small and beautiful” livelihood projects in developing countries over the next five years, Li said at the high-level meeting on the GDI, noting that as a responsible major developing country, China will not seek any new special and differential treatment in the current and future World Trade Organization negotiations.
