UNITED NATIONS: The Global Development Initiative (GDI), launched by China’s President Xi Jinping in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, has institutionalized the cooperation required for implementing Sustainable Development Goals and a shared future of peace and prosperity for all mankind, Pakistan Ambassador Munir Akram has said.
He told a high-level meeting of the Group of Friends of the GDI, at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday that Beijing has not only institutionalized the cooperation but also established the institutions on funding for project development as well as the consultative mechanisms that are required to achieve our goals.
The ambassador called the Global Development Initiative a clear framework to achieve SDGs. He expressed the hope that China, having lifted over 700 million people out of poverty, can offer its invaluable experiences, lessons, and support to enable other developing nations to reduce poverty and realize their development objectives.
Referring to the GDI as “an example of action,” he underlined China’s institutionalized cooperation and establishment of institutions for funding project development, as well as consultative mechanisms needed for goal achievement.
Pakistan-China Cooperation
Speaking on cooperation with China, the envoy stressed how the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) enabled Islamabad to overcome its energy and infrastructure deficits.
He expressed confidence that under the framework of the Global Development Initiative, this cooperation would extend to many other developing nations, aiding progress towards the SDGs.
At this pivotal juncture in international efforts toward achieving the SDGs, Akram highlighted the critical significance of addressing two key issues: financing and project development.
He said that Islamabad is actively engaged in securing concrete commitments at the Summit of the Future, including the endorsement of the Secretary-General’s 500 billion dollars stimulus proposal, fulfillment of the ODA commitment of 0.7 percent of GNI, re-channelling of at least 200 billion dollars of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) for the SDGs, recapitalization of the MDBs, improved lending terms by MDBs, incorporation of vulnerability criteria for concessional finance allocation, and massive scaling up of climate finance to meet COP-28 goals, he added.
