BEIJING, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) — As Chinese President Xi Jinping has noted, development holds the master key to solving all problems. The Global Development Initiative (GDI) focuses on the shared development needs of humanity, closely aligns with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and directly addresses the real challenges in the field of global development.
This initiative contributes Chinese wisdom and solutions to jointly advancing global development toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated and inclusive growth.
Ten years on, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has stalled. Of its 169 specific targets, only about 35 percent are on track, while nearly half are progressing too slowly and 18 percent have regressed.
Globally, development is reversing in key areas. Extreme poverty has risen for the first time in two decades, with the poorest half of humanity holding just 2 percent of global wealth. Some 2.6 billion people still lack internet access, and the funding gap for developing countries to adapt to climate change is continuously widening.
Moreover, wars and conflicts have pushed 140 million people into acute food insecurity, while unilateral sanctions continue to severely impact the livelihoods of billions.
These alarming facts expose fundamental flaws in global development. Some developed countries have prioritized geopolitical interests over cooperation, exploiting development resources through sanctions, decoupling and aid cuts. In so doing, they have betrayed the universal consensus that the right to development is an inalienable human right.
An imbalanced global governance structure has long left developing nations at a disadvantage in shaping international rules, while technological blockades and trade barriers continue to widen the development gap.
Meanwhile, multilateral cooperation mechanisms are increasingly weakened by unilateral actions, leading to a severe shortage of global public goods and a lack of coordinated international responses.
These issues have not only raised the risk of the 2030 Agenda’s failure, but highlighted the urgent need for targeted measures to address global development challenges.
The GDI, proposed at this crucial time, has gained tremendous global appeal by breaking away from the outdated paradigm in which major powers dominate and smaller nations are forced to depend on them. The initiative also promotes collective action with an attitude of equality and a systematic approach, ensuring that every participant becomes a beneficiary of development.
As a proactive champion of the initiative, China has always been guided by the “Six Principles” and relies on platforms such as the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the New Development Bank to empower international development cooperation.
The China-Africa Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center implements the “teach a man to fish” model, leading to an average increase in local crop yields of 30-60 percent. It has benefited over a million farmers, serving as a tangible manifestation of the priority development concept.
The China-Laos Railway has turned Laos from landlocked into a land-linked hub, cutting logistics costs by over 30 percent and creating more than 100,000 jobs. Meanwhile, China-Brazil joint technology innovation centers have enhanced ecological protection and expanded clean energy access to remote communities, promoting inclusive, innovation-driven growth and harmony between people and nature.
Beyond giving robust impetus to the 2030 Agenda, the GDI is revolutionizing and reshaping global development concepts. Its theoretical breakthrough lies in breaking free from the dependence on conventional Western development models, putting first the common interests of humanity and laying a solid foundation for building a community with a shared future for humanity.
For development dividends to reach more people equitably across the globe, nations should move beyond narrow self-interest, embrace historical trends, champion common development, uphold fairness and justice, and fully commit to mutually beneficial cooperation.
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