Commentary: Consensus on global agenda conducive to success of upcoming UN summit

All 193 UN member states Sunday agreed to an ambitious global agenda which features 17 new sustainable development goals that aim, by 2030, to eradicate extreme poverty, promote prosperity and people's well-being, and protect the environment, paving the way for a successful UN summit in September.

The agreed-upon draft plan, also known as "Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," is expected to be officially adopted at the summit, which will attract more than 150 world leaders at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The weekend agreement came at the end of a negotiating process that has spanned more than two years and involved both developed and developing countries, representing the global aspiration for common development on the basis of win-win cooperation.

The participants in the negotiation process were all UN member countries with varying national conditions and different development targets, so naturally, they viewed the same agenda from different perspectives.

China for its part has attended the negotiations in a constructive manner, and played a crucial role in bridging the gap and promoting unity among participating countries, laying a solid foundation for the hard-won agreement.

Meanwhile, the agreement also showcases the joint efforts of the international community to underline the importance of protecting the environment while promoting economic advancement and social progress.

The new deal also builds on the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight anti-poverty targets to be reached by the end of this year, which helped more than 700 million people across the world to escape poverty over the past 15 years. The MDGs deal with a variety of issues such as hunger, disease, gender inequality, and access to water and sanitation by 2015.

At the same time, the lessons arising from the MDGs' implementation are very helpful as the United Nations has been leading the international community in hammering out the consensus document.

This year is the Year of Development, and it also marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. Therefore, people worldwide have good reason to have high expectations for the September summit, which is hoped to result in a blueprint for international development in the next 15 years.

Today's world is far from being tranquil. Regional turbulence and conflicts rear their ugly heads from time to time, global economic recovery remains a daunting task, and various new challenges keep cropping up.

Fortunately, the international community has recognized the importance of rejecting conflict, backwardness and confrontation in favor of peace, development and cooperation.

In this sense, it is hoped that the new deal will help renew the global commitment to development, yield ambitious and tangible results, and help forge a future-oriented partnership at the upcoming UN summit. Endi