Premier says joint efforts can make pie bigger

China stands ready to work with all parties to further implement the Global Development Initiative to advance the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at a faster pace and reinvigorate global development, Premier Li Qiang said on Tuesday in New York.

Li made the remarks while addressing the High-Level Meeting on the Global Development Initiative, one of the events held by China during his five-day stay in New York, which started on Monday, to attend the general debate of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly.

"To solve the many problems we now face, we must remain committed to development, dedicate all our efforts to it and work together to make the pie bigger," he said.

The Global Development Initiative, put forward by President Xi Jinping at the UN General Assembly in 2021, aims to advance the broadest common interests of all humanity. It lays out six core principles that parties should uphold to promote shared development.

To date, over 130 countries and international organizations have taken part in the implementation of the initiative, making it a widely supported global public good.

Li called for fostering a stable and open international environment for development, saying that peace and stability underpin development and prosperity, while openness and cooperation sustain economic growth.

Noting that the overarching trends of multipolarity and economic globalization are irreversible, the premier emphasized that decoupling, severing supply chains and bloc confrontation would only hurt the global economy, disrupt global order and create greater risks.

"We should jointly safeguard the UN-centered international system, uphold multilateralism and free trade, build an open world economy, and promote global development that is more dynamic," he said.

While underlining the need to build balanced and universally beneficial partnerships for development, Li said it is important to cultivate future-oriented drivers for innovation-fueled development and promote green and low-carbon development with greater sustainability.

Li pledged that China will continue to increase input in global development.

He said that in the past four years, with China's vigorous efforts, the Global Development Initiative mobilized more than $23 billion to support the development and invigoration of the Global South, and launched more than 1,800 cooperation projects.

In the next five years, China will implement another 2,000 "small and beautiful" livelihood projects in developing countries, and work with relevant countries and the World Health Organization to carry out more health projects, he said.

China will also continue to contribute funds to the "China Program" at the World Trade Organization to help least-developed countries integrate into the global trading system, he added.

Li declared at the meeting that as a responsible major developing country, China will not seek new special and differential treatment in current and future negotiations at the WTO.

He put forward a new AI+ International Cooperation Initiative at the meeting as part of China's efforts to continue to strengthen scientific and technological cooperation to empower global development.

In the next five years, China will establish a funding program dedicated to digital capacity building within the Global Development Capital Pool to support the "Digital South" initiative under the Global Development Initiative, he said.

China will also initiate an International Alliance of Sustainable Development Satellites to provide solid support of space observation data for global development, he added.

The premier said that to promote the green transition of global development, China will carry out 200 maritime development cooperation projects in the next five years to support small island countries in boosting sustainable development capacity, and implement a Clean Stove Project in developing countries to contribute to a clean, beautiful and sustainable world.

"With the GDI as a platform, China is ready to work with all countries to continuously deepen global development cooperation, and jointly create a better and more prosperous world," Li said.