Your Excellency, Mr. Han Zheng, Vice President of People’s Republic of China,

Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

1. I would like to express my appreciation to the Government of China for convening this High-Level Meeting on the GDI and congratulate China for the successful outcome of the First High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development held in Beijing in July this year, which I had the honor to attend. Today’s High-Level Meeting once again demonstrates China’s strong commitment to fostering global cooperation and collaboration in pursuit of shared development, that would definitely contribute to SDG implementation.

Excellencies,

2. As we find ourselves in this critical juncture, confronted with unprecedented global challenges which have undeniably set back the progress and achievements made in development over the past decades, our common aspirations for sustainable development are at serious risk. It is, therefore, crucial that we refocus our efforts to forge necessary collaboration and partnership in a more harmonized and practical manner in order to collectively overcome these challenges.

 

3. In this context, we continue to amplify the voices of countries in need and we believe that the commendable GDI holds great relevance to the current circumstances we face today. Serving as a multilateral mechanism for practical global development partnership and cooperation, the GDI offers the impetus to drive and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and other internationally agreed development frameworks.

 

4. Over the past years, we have seen elevated global attempts to address such particular challenges as poverty alleviation, food security, public health security and climate action. In this regard, we highly value the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund and welcome the announcement by President Xi Jinping to set up a special 10 billion US Dollar fund to be dedicated to the implementation of the GDI. It is our firm belief that this special fund will significantly contribute to the establishment of a global development community and the realization of a shared future.

Excellencies,

5. At the national level, Lao PDR has greatly benefited from the inclusive policies and initiatives of China, particularly through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the GDI Project Pool. These initiatives have played a crucial role in our efforts in poverty reduction, and infrastructure development, including connectivity and others. These have made important contributions to our recovery efforts and socio-economic development, making tangible progress towards graduating from the LDC status and achieving the objectives of the 2030 Agenda.

 

6. We are of the view that to materialize the objectives of the GDI at the country level, it is crucial to build technical capacity and develop human resources in those priority areas of GDI in order for us to be able to design and implement practical and implementable programme and project proposals taking into account development needs and priorities of the country.

Excellencies,

7. In conclusion, I would like to reaffirm our commitment to pursuing a sustainable development path and once again express Lao PDR's unwavering support for the GDI. We look forward to collaborating with other countries and partners to realize this initiative. I firmly believe that through the collective efforts and partnerships of nations, this initiative will yield concrete and positive outcomes for the sustainable development of developing countries.  Thank you!