尊敬的 罗照辉 署长 (Chairman of CIDCA)

Excellency Ambassador Osman (AU Representative to China)

Ms Susanna Moorehead (Chair of the DAC, OECD)

尊敬的 张向晨 副总干事 (Deputy Director-General of the WTO)

尊敬的 顾学明 院长 (President of CAITEC/MOFCOM)

Distinguished Guests,

大家下午好, 欢迎 大家 参加 2022年 中国 与 国际发展 论坛.

(Good afternoon and welcome to the 2022 China and International Development Forum.)

We meet at ‘a moment of great peril’ for our world.

COVID-19 pushed as many as 163 million people back into poverty last year, reversing roughly six years of development progress.

Global conflicts are driving up the price of essential goods and energy, squeezing both individuals and governments, and triggering severe debt distress.

And global CO2 levels are at their highest in history with the world on a course to exceed the 1.5 degrees warming target set by the Paris Agreement by more than double. With three-and-a-half billion people living in countries highly vulnerable to climate change, the consequences of this would be catastrophic

When the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted in 2015, it was envisaged as a collective roadmap to secure the future of both people and planet. However, with only 8 years left, we are falling woefully short.

If we are to have any hope of putting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) back on track, we need all countries to step up to help strengthen both global solidarity and international development cooperation - now more than ever,

China has long been a partner to developing countries in providing assistance and supporting South-South Cooperation. Between 2013 and 2018 China’s foreign assistance totaled around 40 Billion USD.  In recent years, its role in this space has continued to evolve, as it moves to transition from development aid to focusing on development cooperation with its partners that is guided by the 2030 Agenda and increasingly linked into the multilateral system.

This opens up an important opportunity to draw on best practice and international experience and standards in the design, implementation, monitoring and measuring of development cooperation outcomes. Through demand-based cooperation and two-way knowledge exchanges, China can work with partner countries to collectively drive forward global progress on the SDGs and leverage its innovations in areas such as low carbon transition and green and sustainable finance for development results at scale.

Recognising that all countries have unique contexts and development experiences, UNDP works with China to help inform its development cooperation engagements and guide them to be green, inclusive, and benefit the most vulnerable.

As part of these efforts, we provide technical advice to help shape relevant policies, strategies and programmes so they build on international norms and standards. We also provide platforms for Chinese development actors to engage with partners globally generating a pool of best practices to enhance development effectiveness for the 2030 Agenda.

Indeed, this is precisely why we have come together for today’s forum.

We are very excited to have a diverse group of different representatives in attendance including from Chinese partners, the OECD, embassies in China, UN agencies, international organizations, and think tanks. Together, we can apply our collective decades of development experience to guide effective development cooperation initiatives that adhere to the spirit and principles of the SDGs.

Let me close where I started and reiterate: To advance sustainable development globally, international cooperation must be strengthened. In 2015, this fact was underscored by the Addis Ababa Action Agenda where the international community committed to enhancing the quality, impact, and effectiveness of development cooperation under an agreed set of principles.

Seven years later, we must live up to this vision in accelerating SDG progress around the world, and UNDP remains committed to supporting governments and institutions in doing this.

Together, we can still alter the course we are currently on, and shape a greener and more inclusive future for all!

Finally, I would like to extend my most sincere thanks to the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce as co-hosts, and to all the participants joining us online.

(我 谨 代表 联合国 开发计划署，向 论坛 联合主办方 商务部 国际 贸易 经济合作 研究院，以及 所有线上的嘉宾 致以 最 衷心 的 感谢)。

恭祝本次论坛圆满成功，

(I wish the forum a great success,)

Thank you!