Following the passage of five years from when President Xi Jinping first introduced the Global Development Initiative (GDI) to the world in a speech delivered during the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, the China offices of the UN development system, and the China International Development Cooperation Agency jointly held a high level meeting on 28th July to commemorate the occasion under the theme “The Global Development Initiative at Five Years: Joining Hands for A Brighter Future of Sustainable Development.” Hosted in Beijing, the event saw Foreign Minister (FM) Wang Yi deliver a keynote address in what is one of the best articulations of the GDI vision yet.
While re-echoing the Xi UNGA 76 speech in many ways, FM Wang Yi’s remarks gave validity to GDI by linking the initiative’s aspirations from half-a-decade ago to what are now concrete fruits that it has yielded. In that way, the statesman ably demonstrated that the administration in which he serves is nothing like the world’s leaders who are known to talk a big game while always falling short when it comes to real-world results.
To begin with, Hon. Wang Yi went at great length to explain that GDI had succeeded in garnering support from across the world through among others; obtaining the participation of 130 countries, the entry into force of 100+ non-governmental organizations GDI-related cooperation agreements (national, regional, and international), and the rapid growth of the Group of Friends forum (the number stands at 88 as of this moment). Considering that GDI was positioned as a consensus building avenue from the get go in direct response to the protectionists tendencies of our age, the depth of these figures speaks volumes. Indeed, Wang Yi affirmed that his country would continue on this trajectory by emphasizing the commonalities of humanity at large. In his words, “a thriving world lifts China, and a prosperous China empowers the world.”
Having laid out the broad picture, the keynote then went on to identify some of the programmes through which the Global Development Initiative mission has been carried out― most notably, the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, the Sustainable Development Science Satellite 1, the U.N. Peace and Development Fund etc. FM Wang Yi asserted that in total, $23 billion had been spent on ventures like this. Going even further in specifics, the minister reported that an impressive 1,800 livelihood projects and training for at least 200,000 professionals had been carried out with this money thereby demonstrating just how much Beijing is committed to achieving the targets set under GDI.
Like any thoughtful leader however, Wang Yi was not about to let himself and the audience wallow in self-congratulation at the expense of the gains that GDI could yet realize if its architects continued to think strategically. To this end, he rallied the international community to capitalize on the successes gained thus far as a springboard towards protecting the custodian institutions and norms in geo-politics. That way he reasoned, countries would continue to live alongside each other in harmony while focusing on the issues that require concerted efforts. In particular, he pointed to the rule of law based international order as well as the United Nations system.
Finally, the remarks of China’s chief diplomat can be understood not merely by what he said when he took to the microphone but also in how they relate to the statements of the other dignitaries at the event. For instance, Earle Courtenay Rattray, the chef de cabinet to the UN Secretary-General explained in his case that even when the deadline for the implementation of the Sustainable Development goals was just four years away, only 36% of the measurable targets were on track to be realized by 2030. In other words, the United Nations could use all the help it can get. Speaking on a different point, Kenya’s Ambassador to China H.E Willy Bett praised GDI for renewing hope in the developing the world “by promoting cooperation over confrontation, partnership over division, and shared prosperity over unnecessary competition.”
Looking back to 2021 through Wang Yi’s lenses hence, we can conclude that the framers of the Global Development Initiative ought to walk with their heads high knowing that the outcomes of their intentions have impacted the world in a significant way and that if that momentum keeps up, there is no limit on how much more success they could end up attesting to in the coming five years.
Joshua Kingdom is a lawyer and a Research Fellow at the Development Watch Centre
