Red dragon to start $2bn fund

CHINA would establish a $2 billion (R28bn) fund to support the implementation of a post-2015 development agenda in developing countries, President Xi Jinping said at the weekend.

China would increase its investment in the least developed countries to $12bn in 2030, Xi said at the UN Sustainable Development Summit at the UN headquarters in New York.

In addition, China would exempt the debt of outstanding inter-governmental interest-free loans due by the end of this year owed by the relevant least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing countries, Xi said.

As part of China’s plan to implement the post-2015 development agenda adopted by the UN summit, Xi also announced that China would establish an international development knowledge centre to facilitate research and exchanges by countries on theories and practices of development suited to their respective national conditions.

It would also propose discussion on establishing a global energy network to facilitate efforts to meet the global power demand with clean and green alternatives.

Sharing his views on the agenda, Xi called for an equitable, open, all-round and innovation-driven development path, stressing that no country should be left behind.

According to Xi, China has actualised the goal set by the Millennium Development Goals and lifted 439 million people out of poverty over the past 30 years since the country’s reform and opening-up.

He said over the past 60 years, China had provided 166 countries and international organisations with almost 400 billion yuan (R878bn) worth of assistance, and dispatched over 600 000 aid workers, over 700 of whom had laid down their lives in helping with the development of other countries, he said.

China was “a leader” in advancing South-South cooperation, UN chief Ban Kimoon said about China’s measures to support the UN’s development agenda.

He stated that China was an essential and indispensable partner of the UN and that the UN was looking forward to greater co-operation in promoting developmentrelated agendas. – Source: People’sDaily