On May 9, 2022, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended and addressed the opening ceremony of the High-Level Virtual Meeting of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative (GDI) in Beijing via video link.
Wang Yi said that since the very beginning, the GDI has been warmly received by the international community. More than 100 countries expressed support, and as many as 53 countries have joined the Group of Friends. This fully shows that the GDI responds to the call of the times, meets the needs of various countries, and reflects the trend of the world as well as the aspiration of the people. Wang Yi elaborated on the four major goals of GDI.
The GDI is committed to building political consensus on accelerating development. However the world may change, what remains unchanged is the yearning of the people of all countries for a better life and their desire and pursuit for development. This has added to the imperativeness and urgency of development. The GDI is designed to focus on development agenda, shore up political will, and help create a momentum that prioritizes development and advances cooperation.
The GDI is committed to building a common platform for development cooperation. Global development needs clear visions and goals, and more important, practical actions and measures. Being action-oriented, the GDI aims to protect and improve livelihood, tackle the most urgent challenges in global development, and focus on key cooperation areas such as poverty reduction, COVID-19 response, human resource training, food and energy security, industrialization, digital economy and green development. This will provide useful avenues for parties to match their development needs and conduct project-based cooperation.
The GDI is committed to promoting exchanges and mutual learning of development experience. In the course of their development, both developed and developing countries have accumulated rich experience. The GDI will facilitate the sharing and exchanges of different development experience, and support countries in exploring development paths within their national context and based on their strengths, with a view to eventually achieving common development.
The GDI is committed to enhancing international synergy for coordinated development. To realize the SDGs, the UN has launched multiple processes that involve regional and sub-regional mechanisms and UN development agencies. The GDI will coordinate development cooperation at the global, regional and national levels to generate multiplier effect. And for all the 17 SDGs, the GDI will encourage international organizations, governments, businesses, the academia and civil societies to play their roles. The result will be a symphony for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.