Xi pushes for closer South-South cooperation at UN

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced here Saturday a major initiative to help developing countries reduce poverty.

At a South-South cooperation roundtable he hosted and addressed, Xi also brought forth a four-point proposal on pushing forward collaboration between developing countries in the new era.

SIX ONE-HUNDREDS INITIATIVE

Under the "Six 100s" initiative, China will make available to other developing countries in the next five years 100 poverty reduction programs, 100 agricultural cooperation projects, 100 trade promotion and aid programs, 100 environmental protection and climate change programs, 100 hospitals and clinics, and 100 schools and vocational training centers.

Also during the period, Beijing will provide 120,000 opportunities and 150,000 scholarships for citizens of other developing countries to receive training and education in China, and help nurture 500,000 professional technicians for the rest of the developing world.

Besides, the Chinese president added that his country will set up an Academy of South-South Cooperation and Development, and provide 2 million U.S. dollars of aid in cash for the World Health Organization.

Xi stressed that solidarity and cooperation with other developing countries form the unshakable foundation of China's foreign policy, and that China will share its development opportunities with other developing countries.

China, he added, will closely link its development with the common growth of the developing world, connect the Chinese Dream with the dream of all the people in the developing countries for a better life, and join hands with other developing countries to create a bright future.

FOUR-PRONGED PROPOSAL

Noting that South-South cooperation is set to play a bigger role in promoting the collective rise of developing countries and generating a robust, sustained, balanced and inclusive growth of the world economy, Xi raised a four-point proposal for expanding South-South cooperation in the new era.

Firstly, Xi urged developing countries to explore diversified paths of development, saying that it requires a matched key to open the lock.

The developing countries, Xi said, should stick to the development paths of their independent choice and with their unique characteristics, share successful experiences in state governance, focus on capacity-building, explore growth potentials, solve development difficulties and improve the well-being of the people.

Secondly, Xi called on the developing countries to conjoin their development strategies.

They should make better use of their comparative advantages, enhance macroeconomic policy coordination, and advance cooperation simultaneously in such areas as economy, trade, finance, investment, infrastructure construction and environmental protection, so as to improve the overall competitiveness of the developing countries, he added.

Thirdly, the Chinese leader said the developing countries should strive for practical development results.

He suggested that the developing countries concentrate on rolling out a number of strategically important flagship projects, so as to instill vigor to South-South cooperation.

In order to do that, Xi said, they can focus on interconnectivity and production capacity cooperation and give full play to such new mechanisms as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank of the emerging-market bloc of BRICS.

Fourthly, Xi called for concerted efforts to improve the global development framework.

The developing countries should promote the reform of global economic governance, consolidate the multilateral trading system, and expand communication and exchange with developed countries, so as to build a community of common interests, he added.

On the post-2015 development agenda, Xi said South-South cooperation should take the implementation of the ambitious global plan as an opportunity to boost the development of the developing countries at higher levels and in broader areas.

ENTHUSIASTIC RESPONSES

The roundtable, jointly organized by China and the United Nations, took place in a warm and friendly atmosphere, with the attendance of South African President Jacob Zuma, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and leaders of some other countries and international organizations. Ban co-chaired the meeting.

They expressed full support for China's initiative and propositions on South-South cooperation, saying that China is providing leadership in international affairs.

The measures Xi announced at the roundtable and the UN Sustainable Development Summit, which he addressed earlier Saturday, testify to China's commitment to and support for South-South cooperation, they said.

The leaders agreed that the South has become a major impetus for global growth and that South-South cooperation has become an important supplement to international development cooperation.

However, South-South cooperation cannot replace North-South cooperation or the developed countries' aid to their developing peers, they stressed, while urging the United Nations to increase support for South-South cooperation.

The roundtable produced a joint communique of the co-chairs, which states that South-South cooperation should continue to follow the principles of mutual respect and trust, equality, solidarity and win-win cooperation, and help developing countries realize fair, open, all-round and innovation-driven development.