Initiative dedicated to helping revitalize efforts to meet UN's Sustainable Development Goals

The Global Development Initiative proposed by China has renewed global focus on development issues and strengthened cooperation between developing countries amid a series of global crises, government officials, international organizations and experts across the world said.

President Xi Jinping launched the proposal during a video address in September last year to the General Debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, with the aim of steering global development toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated and inclusive growth.

A timely call

"This initiative came at a timely moment. We are suffering multiple shocks to the global economy and especially to developing countries," Munir Akram, the permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, told China Daily in an exclusive interview on Aug 26.

"This initiative brings the countries of the world, especially developing countries, together to partner with China on addressing these issues," said Akram, who is also chairperson of the Group of 77 and China. The G77, which got its name from its 77 founding members, is now a group of 134 developing countries at the United Nations.

With the world facing a storm of cascading crises, from the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, devastating rises in the cost of living and the climate emergency to growing numbers of the poor and hungry, worsening inequalities and rising social unrest, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals need to be back on track for the well-being of this and future generations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of the GDI on Sept 20.

"The holistic Global Development Initiative is a valued contribution to addressing common challenges and accelerating the transition to a more sustainable and inclusive future," the UN chief said at the meeting.

The meeting, which was chaired by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and attended by nearly 40 foreign ministers and heads of international agencies, agreed on the value of close coordination between the GDI and UN bodies in addressing poverty and advancing the SDGs.

The agreement found support in developing countries.

Dennis Munene, executive director of the China-Africa Center at the Africa Policy Institute in Nairobi, Kenya, told China Daily in a recent interview that the GDI is benefiting the world in various ways.

It is assisting the global community and the UN in achieving the SDGs. It is also helping the African Union achieve its Agenda 2063, which is currently in its ninth year, and regional governments fulfill their national agendas, including Kenya's Vision 2030.

Furthermore, the initiative is striving to reverse the devastating impact of COVID-19 on development, to address the challenges of environmental degradation and climate change, and to promote green recovery and China's policy of an "ecological civilization" to harmonize development and the environment.