UNITED NATIONS; Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivered a landmark address at the high-level meeting on the Global Development Initiative (GDI), emphasizing China’s commitment to sustainable, inclusive, and innovation-driven global development.
Speaking at the United Nations in New York, Premier Li highlighted the importance of international cooperation, multilateralism, and peaceful stability as prerequisites for development.
He underscored that unilateralism, protectionism, and divisive approaches undermine global growth and called for greater solidarity among nations to “make the pie bigger” for all.
The Premier reaffirmed China’s commitment to the GDI, a framework proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2021, which has engaged over 130 countries and international organizations.
He outlined four main priorities: fostering a stable international environment, building balanced partnerships for development, promoting innovation-driven growth, and advancing green, low-carbon development for sustainability.
Premier Li detailed China’s achievements under the GDI, noting that over the past four years, the initiative mobilized more than $23 billion and launched 1,800 cooperation projects for the Global South.
In the next five years, China plans to implement 2,000 additional livelihood projects, advance health initiatives with the WHO, and contribute further to trade integration for least-developed countries via the WTO.
On innovation, China will continue promoting AI and digital capacity-building across developing nations and has proposed the establishment of a World AI Cooperation Organization alongside a Digital South funding program. The country also intends to create an International Alliance of Sustainable Development Satellites to support space-based data for global development.
Premier Li highlighted China’s leadership in green energy, noting that cost reductions in wind and solar technologies over the past decade have benefited over 100 countries. China plans to implement 200 maritime development projects for small island nations and initiate a Clean Stove Project in developing countries.
Concluding his speech, Li emphasized that the GDI provides a platform for all nations to deepen cooperation, accelerate the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and jointly build a prosperous and equitable global future.
