Interview: World needs partnership outlined by Chinese president, says UN official
Xinhua,January 25, 2018 Adjust font size:
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's vision of building a community of shared future for mankind has led to a major geo-political shift in the world, with the rest of the global community now following the concept, a senior UN official said.
"It was a new movement and new positioning of China that was extremely welcome at the time when the world was fragmented, when we had many problems of different kinds," said Michael Moller, director-general of the UN Office at Geneva (UNOG, referring to Xi's speech at the UNOG one year ago, in which he shared his concept.
In an interview with Xinhua Wednesday during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Moller said this year's WEF theme of a shared future in a fractured world has "an organic" link to what Xi said.
"The rest of the world is coming to follow the president's words last year," he remarked. "We are seeing more and more renewed international solidary."
The principles outlined by Xi are very much in line with the international solidarity, multilateralism and free trade advocated by the UN, he said.
"When we look at the principles laid down by your (the Chinese) president, they are very much aligned with the (UN) Sustainable Development Goals," he observed, referring to the 17 principles UN member countries have agreed to implement to meet the challenges facing the world, including access to food and water
The UNOG head said that over the past year he has seen China operationalizing the principles laid out by Xi in an unrushed, well-thoughtout way. "It's smart and very welcome," he remarked.
The world faces huge challenges which cannot be resolved by any one country or any one organization alone, he said, emphasizing, "We have to find a way of working together - organizations, countries and people."
"The essential word is partnerships, and this is very much what your president (Xi Jinping) is talking about," he said to XInhua. Enditem