Century-old changes and the once-in-a-century pandemic are intertwined, economic globalization has encountered adverse currents, digital transformation and green transition crises coexist, and human development is at a new crossroads. People of all countries have more ardent expectations for peaceful development, stronger calls for fairness and justice, and more determined pursuit of win-win cooperation. How can we beat the pandemic? How do we build a post-pandemic world? These are major issues of common concern to the whole world, and they are also urgent questions that all countries must answer. Chinese President Xi Jinping solemnly put forward the Global Development Initiative at the 76th United Nations General Assembly, calling on the international community to place development at a prominent position in the global macro policy framework, accelerate the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and jointly promote a new stage for balanced, coordinated, and inclusive global development. The Global Development Initiative adheres to the core concept of staying committed to the primacy of people, staying committed to benefits for all, staying committed to innovation-driven development, staying committed to harmony between man and nature, and staying committed to results-oriented actions, with climate change and green development, industrialization, the digital economy, and interconnection as key areas of cooperation, and puts forward China’s plan to answer the issues of the times, to build a better post-pandemic world, and to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

1 The Global Development Initiative adheres to the principles of the primacy of people and development as a priority

Staying committed to development as a priority: People are the fundamental driving force of development, and improving people’s well-being is the fundamental purpose of development. The Global Development Initiative regards improving people’s well-being and realizing all-round development as its starting point and goal and takes people’s aspirations for a better life as its goal, insists that development is for the people, that development depends on the people, and that the fruits of development are shared by the people, so as to continuously improve people’s livelihood and enhance people’s sense of happiness, gain, and security.

Staying committed to development as a priority and the drive for innovation: Development is an important foundation for solving global challenges and the eternal pursuit of human society. We must unswervingly follow the path of prioritizing development. As the most populous country, China’s development from a relatively backward productivity level to the world’s second largest economy has proved that only by unswervingly persisting in development can a country be prosperous and strong and its people live a happy life. Whether eradicating extreme poverty around the world, responding to food security crises, responding to the impact of the pandemic, quelling conflicts and turmoil, or resolving humanitarian crises, all rely on development. The Global Development Initiative focuses on development, puts development cooperation in a prominent position in global macro policy coordination, solves prominent problems and fundamental challenges in state governance through development, seizes the opportunities of the new industrial revolution, and provides more momentum for common development and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Staying committed to leaving no country and no one behind: Issues such as the North-South gap, recovery differentiation, development gaps, and technological gaps have become increasingly prominent. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated inequalities between and within countries. The United Nations 2022 World Economic Situation and Prospects report pointed out that the per capita GDP of developed economies will fully recover to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, while the per capita GDP of developing and transition economies will continue below the pre-pandemic level of 64. The Global Development Initiative is a global public product that bridges the development gap and cracks the development deficit. It is committed to promoting inclusive development, addressing imbalances and inadequacies in development among and within countries, and enhancing the fairness, effectiveness, and inclusiveness of global development, leaving no country behind. The Global Development Initiative pays attention to the special development difficulties of developing countries, especially the least developed countries, small island developing states, and landlocked developing countries, so that all countries and all groups of people can enjoy the benefits of development equitably.

Staying committed to harmony between man and nature: Green and low carbon is the most sustainable development momentum, and a good ecological environment is the most conducive to people’s well-being. The Global Development Initiative advocates seizing the opportunities of technological development and economic transformation, accelerating green and low-carbon transformation, promoting the optimization and upgrading of energy and industrial structures, and taking the road of green recovery and sustainable development. The Global Development Initiative advocates for the respect for and protection of nature. In accordance with the internal operating laws of ecosystems, equal emphasis is placed on development and protection, overall utilization and restoration, and building a community of life between man and nature. The Global Development Initiative adheres to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, fully implements the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement, strengthens global climate and environmental governance, and builds a global ecological civilization.

Staying committed to multilateralism, openness, and inclusiveness: In today’s world, the futures and destinies of all countries are closely linked, and interests are intertwined like never before. Only by gathering the wisdom and strength of all people and mobilizing global resources can we jointly cope with global challenges and promote global development. The Global Development Initiative practices true multilateralism, adheres to the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and maintains the international order based on international law. It abides by the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and gives full play to the overall and coordinating role of the United Nations in the process of sustainable development and strengthening North-South cooperation. The initiative deepens South-South cooperation, promotes communication and dialogue among all parties, and understands all parties’ actual needs and advantageous resources. The initiative promotes mutual understanding, reaches basic consensus, and lays the foundation for joint action. The Global Development Initiative advocates an open and inclusive spirit of partnership. It is an important public product and platform for cooperation provided by China to the international community. It is open to the world and welcomes the participation of all countries.

2 The Global Development Initiative emphasizes action orientation and synergies with existing mechanisms

Global development requires a clear vision and goals but also pragmatic actions. The Global Development Initiative adheres to an action-oriented approach, transforming global development consensus into pragmatic actions for international development cooperation. Starting from the protection and improvement of people’s livelihood and from the most pressing issues of global development, it focuses on key cooperation areas such as poverty reduction, food security, pandemic control and vaccines, development financing, climate change and green development, industrialization, the digital economy, and connectivity. The initiative carries out cooperation projects such as people’s livelihood development, technical cooperation, knowledge sharing, and capacity building and meets the development needs of all parties to build a beneficial platform and promote the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The Global Development Initiative tackles pressing development challenges such as poverty reduction, food security, pandemic control and vaccines, and creates the preconditions for a smooth post-pandemic recovery. The initiative actively supports poverty reduction in developing countries by implementing international poverty reduction cooperation projects that benefit people’s livelihood, sharing and exchanging poverty reduction experiences, and conducting international poverty reduction training. The initiative helps vulnerable groups improve food security by promoting sustainable agricultural development, implementing agricultural aid projects, improving international food and agricultural governance, and coordinating the provision of international food aid. By increasing the availability and affordability of vaccines in developing countries, it helps them improve their vaccine deployment capabilities and carry out experience exchanges on coordinating epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development. By working together, we will build a global immune barrier and a community of health for mankind.

The Global Development Initiative also focuses on medium- and long-term development challenges and promotes a stronger, greener, and healthier global development after the pandemic. The Global Development Initiative will strengthen and improve international coordination and cooperation in sustainable development financing and enhance developing countries’ independent development capacity and resilience. By promoting the comprehensive and effective implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement by the international community, strengthening global climate and environmental governance, promoting green and low-carbon transformation of production and consumption in all countries, strengthening green financing, and promoting green technology research and development, transfers, and sharing to achieve green recovery. The initiative will promote new industrialization cooperation by strengthening policy coordination and capacity building and promote better integration of developing countries into global industrial chains, value chains, and supply chains. By strengthening digital economic cooperation, it will provide new opportunities for countries, especially developing countries, to bridge the digital divide, improve the level of digital infrastructure and industrial development capabilities, and promote shared and inclusive development. By enhancing connectivity, using more convenient technical means of communication and cooperation, promoting technology transfer and knowledge sharing, and strengthening development partnerships, digital technology can better serve the sustainable development of countries.

The Global Development Initiative focuses on synergies with existing cooperation mechanisms, and all parties work together to build a global development community. The Global Development Initiative is neither intended to replace the existing international development agenda, nor is it a fragmentation of the existing 2030 Agenda and its goals. The Global Development Initiative is a “refocus” on development issues, a “recommitment” to the Sustainable Development Goals, a “reinvigoration” of global partnerships, and a “reactivation” of international development cooperation, aiming to arouse the international community focus on development issues, promote the strengthening of the global development partnership, form international synergy, effectively respond to the challenges posed by the pandemic to development, and help developing countries accelerate their recovery and realize the 2030 Agenda as scheduled. The Global Development Initiative will strengthen the alignment of development cooperation strategies with all parties, especially with the African Union’s Agenda 2063, ASEAN Community Vision 2025, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and the Partnership for Africa’s Development Initiative. The development process of each region and each mechanism is synergistic, promotes one another, and achieves one another. The Global Development Initiative will revolve around all 17 SDGs, relying on or linking existing multilateral mechanisms and platforms to strengthen effective actions, including the strong synergy to promote the United Nations, APEC, G20, BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, “10+1” and other multilateral cooperation mechanisms and regional and sub-regional platforms to bring together a strong synergy for common development. This will encourage the role of international organizations, governments, business circles, academia, and civil society to compose a symphony for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

3 The Global Development Initiative has made a series of important early gains

Since its inception, the Global Development Initiative has received positive responses from the international community, with more than 100 countries expressing support so far. In January 2022, the United Nations established the “Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative,” and more than 50 countries have joined the “Group of Friends” so far. ASEAN countries endorsed the Global Development Initiative in the Joint Statement of the China-ASEAN Summit Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Establishment of Dialogue Relations. In the outcome document of the China-Pacific Island Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Pacific island countries expressed their willingness to support and join the Global Development Initiative and link the initiative with the Pacific Roadmap for Sustainable Development and the Blue Pacific 2050 Strategy. African countries welcomed and supported Global Development Initiatives in the Dakar Declaration of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and believed that improving the global development partnership is the key to accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. At the same time, CELAC and Central Asian countries are signing agreements with China, including the Declaration of the Third Ministerial Conference of the China-CELAC Forum, Joint Statement on the 30th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the Leaders of China and the Five Central Asian Countries, and other documents, expressing welcome and support for the Global Development Initiative.

Effectively building a political consensus on global development: More than half a year since the proposal was put forward, it has effectively gathered the consensus of the international community on solidarity, cooperation, and accelerated development and has raised the international attention on development issues. All parties generally believe that under the current situation, all countries should further strengthen their political will, push development issues back to the core of the international agenda, create a momentum of attaching importance to development and seeking common cooperation, and oppose the politicization and marginalization of development issues. It is necessary to strengthen cooperation in poverty reduction, agriculture, the digital economy, and other fields, deal with many challenges such as energy and food, and strive to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals on schedule and achieve leapfrog development. It is necessary to speed up the improvement of the global governance system, increase the representation and voice of emerging markets and developing countries, promote the building of an open world economy, create a favorable environment for accelerating global development, and build an equal and balanced global development partnership. It is necessary to continue to support the United Nations in giving full play to its coordinating function in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, mobilizing United Nations development agencies, implementing the Global Development Initiative, and contributing to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. State Councilor Wang Yi pointed out in his speech at the opening ceremony of the high-level meeting of the “Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative” that China will hold a high-level meeting on global development at an appropriate time to discuss development plans.

Continuing to increase investment in development aid resources: As a responsible major developing country, China has always tried its best to help other developing countries to the best of its ability. Since the proposal was put forward, China has further increased its contribution to international development resources. In January 2022, China launched the third China-FAO South-South Cooperation Trust Fund with a total amount of U.S. $50 million, providing considerable new resources for promoting international cooperation in areas such as poverty reduction and food security. China has actively participated in the capital increase of the International Development Association, the Asian Development Fund, and the Global Environment Facility. In October 2021, a new batch of projects under the China-United Nations Peace and Development Fund to implement the 2030 Agenda Fund will be approved. They will support United Nations development agencies to meet the actual needs of developing countries in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America, and other regions and will carry out project cooperation to promote the development of dozens of countries in areas such as green transformation and recovery, digital technology, and capacity building. The South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund supports development projects in other developing countries in areas such as poverty reduction, food security, and pandemic control. State Councilor Wang Yi stressed that China will increase investment in development resources and further increase support for the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund and the China-United Nations Peace and Development Fund.

Actively building a project cooperation platform and advocating pragmatic cooperation in eight key areas to achieve important progress: The Global Development Initiative has been transformed from concept to practice, and pragmatic cooperation has been actively carried out in the eight key areas of the initiative, with important progress made in the implementation of relevant projects. In October 2021, China will hold a high-level forum on rural development to promote exchanges and cooperation in poverty reduction and rural development. China International Poverty Alleviation Center and the Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction of Uzbekistan signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Poverty Reduction Cooperation between China International Poverty Alleviation Center and the Ministry of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction of Uzbekistan. In January 2022, China, together with the IUCN and other relevant international organizations, successfully held the Global Coastal Forum to build a platform for international exchanges and cooperation on issues such as coastal ecology and protection of migratory birds. In February, the China-Pacific Island Countries Cooperation Center on Climate Change was established to help relevant countries improve their ability to respond to climate change and conduct related academic research. In March, under the framework of the initiative, China and the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation co-organized the Cross-border E-commerce Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development Capacity Building Training Program for Young People in Developing Countries with the active participation of more than 1,000 trainees from nearly 100 countries, well received by all parties. In the same month, UN-Habitat established the Shanghai Sustainable Development City Award to commend outstanding cities around the world that have made outstanding progress in sustainable development and encourage cities around the world to strive to achieve sustainable development goals. In cooperation with the World Food Programme, China has provided food aid to Uganda, Zimbabwe, East Timor, and other countries under the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund. As of the end of March 2022, China has provided about 2.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations. State Councilor Wang Yi has announced that China will, on the basis of building consensus, promote the formation of a Global Development Initiative project library with the participation of all parties.

Creating a platform for developing knowledge and experience sharing: Development knowledge is an important development resource, sharing development knowledge is an important part of international development cooperation, and promoting global development knowledge sharing is an important aspect of Global Development Initiative cooperation. China released three issues of the China’s Progress Report on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2017, 2019 and 2021, participated in two country-specific voluntary presentations on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and issued the China’s Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Country Voluntary Statement Report, providing reference for countries to implement the 2030 Agenda. In 2020, a selection of cases of the Practice of Eliminating Absolute Poverty in China will be published, detailing China’s experience and measures to win the battle against poverty. Since the proposal was put forward, China has continued to increase knowledge sharing with other countries, especially developing countries. In March 2022, the Forty Years of Poverty Reduction in China: Driving Forces, Reference Significance and Future Policy Directions, jointly conducted by the Ministry of Finance, the Development Research Center of the State Council, and the World Bank, was released, analyzing the driving forces of poverty reduction in China over the past four decades and summarizing the reference significance of China’s poverty reduction experience to other developing countries. In May, the China-ASEAN Development Knowledge Network Secretariat was established to build an effective platform for China and ASEAN countries to share development knowledge and development opportunities with each other and to provide intellectual support for building a China-ASEAN community with a shared future, implementing the Global Development Initiative, and the 2030 Agenda. The China International Development Knowledge Center is willing to regularly publish the Global Development Report, promote the exchange and sharing of international development knowledge, support countries in exploring development paths that suit their national conditions, and make due contributions to enriching and improving the treasure house of human development knowledge.