China plays key role in promoting South-South cooperation: UN official

ADDIS ABABA - China plays a key role in promoting South-South cooperation through improving "key infrastructure" in developing countries, an official at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said.

In an interview with Xinhua on Wednesday, Tesfachew Taffere, the UNCTAD Director for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes, said China has built key infrastructure for developing countries, especially those in the energy sector and transportation.

He said that China has supported the building of the productive capacity, infrastructure necessary to build the countries.

These infrastructure are important for trade and other economic activities, he added.

The UN official also termed China as an inspiration for many countries for its achievement in development and the fight against poverty.

"They (Chinese) have achieved in two decades, reducing poverty by hundreds of millions of people. It is an example for others, for many developing countries," said Tesfachew.

At the UN Sustainable Development Summit held in New York late last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged that China would provide $2 billion to support developing countries in the implementation of the UN-led post-2015 development agenda.

Tesfachew hailed the Chinese initiative to support the developing countries in their endeavor to realize the globally-agreed goal of eradicating poverty by 2030.

"I think this is important... China has become now a symbol of what developing countries can achieve, and in that respect I think China has responsibility as well to ensure that this wealth is also shared and others benefit from it through these globally agreed goals. So, one way of helping developing countries is to ensure that they meet, this time at least, these sustainable development goals," he said.

Tesfachew said many poor economies, especially the least developed countries, had some difficulties in achieving the UN's Millennium Development Goals. But he hoped by 2030, "many countries would show clear signs of poverty eradication."