China Pledges Stronger Global Development Cooperation as Global Development Initiative Marks Five Years
BEIJING — China has pledged to strengthen international development cooperation and provide greater support to developing countries as the Global Development Initiative (GDI) marks its fifth anniversary.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the commitment while addressing the High-Level Meeting on the Global Development Initiative in Beijing on July 28, 2026, calling for greater international solidarity, faster implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and stronger multilateral cooperation.
The meeting came at a time when the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is facing serious delays, while the development gap between the Global North and Global South continues to widen.
Wang said the challenges facing global development demonstrate the continuing relevance of the GDI, which was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2021.
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the initiative has developed from a Chinese proposal into a broader international cooperation framework. More than 130 countries and international organisations have expressed support for the GDI, while nearly 100 countries and international and regional organisations have signed cooperation documents with China.
Four priorities for global development
Wang outlined four areas that China believes should guide international efforts to accelerate global development.
First, he called for greater solidarity and cooperation to create a peaceful environment for development.
Wang said countries should uphold the international system centred on the United Nations and an international order based on international law. He also said China would continue to support UN reform and revitalisation and efforts to strengthen the organisation's development pillar.
Second, Wang called for joint action to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
He said development should remain firmly at the centre of the international agenda and argued that more resources should be made available for global development.
China, he said, would continue to share financial and technological resources with developing countries and undertake bilateral, multilateral and trilateral cooperation to address uneven and inadequate development.
Third, China is calling for greater openness and mutual learning, particularly in science, technology, digital development and artificial intelligence.
Wang highlighted the need to eliminate what he described as the digital and AI divides between the Global North and South.
He said China was ready to deepen cooperation on innovation with other countries so that developing nations could take advantage of new opportunities while responding to emerging challenges.
The remarks also highlighted China's participation, together with 28 other countries, in initiating the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, described in the speech as an effort to respond to calls from the Global South for greater cooperation on AI development and governance.
Fourth, Wang called for the practice of multilateralism and improvements to the global governance system.
He urged deeper reform of the global economic and financial architecture and greater cooperation on development financing.
He also called on developed countries to fulfil their development-financing commitments and said countries should begin preparing for the UN's post-2030 development agenda.
According to Wang, the new development agenda should better reflect the needs and priorities of countries in the Global South.
More than US$23 billion mobilised
China says the GDI has already produced what it describes as tangible development outcomes.
Over the past five years, more than US$23 billion has been mobilised through the China-UN Peace and Development Fund, the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund and other financing initiatives.
The funds have supported more than 1,800 livelihood projects and provided professional training to more than 200,000 people.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry says GDI-related projects have delivered benefits to people in more than 120 countries.
China has also established more than 30 cooperation mechanisms and platforms aimed at strengthening the development capacity of countries in the Global South.
The Group of Friends of the GDI, meanwhile, has grown to 88 member countries, according to Wang's remarks.
Development at the centre of the international agenda
The meeting was held under the theme “The Global Development Initiative at Five Years: Joining Hands for A Brighter Future of Sustainable Development.”
It was jointly organised by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the China International Development Cooperation Agency and the China offices of the UN development system.
Participants included UN representatives, diplomatic envoys from member states of the Group of Friends of the GDI and representatives of UN development agencies in China.
The Chinese press release said participants recognised the achievements of the GDI over the past five years and expressed support for continued development cooperation with China, multilateralism, world peace and prosperity.
The meeting also highlighted the difficulties confronting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Earle Courtenay Rattray, Chef de Cabinet to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said only 36 percent of measurable SDG targets are currently on track, according to the press release.
His remarks underscored the need not simply to formulate development initiatives but to expand existing efforts and secure the resources necessary to implement them.
Pakistan's Ambassador to China, Khalil Hashmi, described the GDI as an effort to put development back at the centre of the international agenda and cited its role in South-South cooperation.
Kenyan Ambassador to China Willy Bett similarly said the initiative had promoted cooperation over confrontation, partnership over division and shared prosperity over unnecessary competition.
China presents itself as a development partner
Chinese Foreign Minister Hon, Wang's speech placed China's own development within a wider international framework.
“A thriving world lifts China, and a prosperous China empowers the world,” Wang said, arguing that China's future development should be linked with the common interests of the international community.
He said China would continue to act as a responsible major country, align its growth with the common good and contribute to global development.
“No matter how the international landscape may evolve,” Wang said, China would continue to advance implementation of the GDI and share development opportunities with other countries.
The message from Beijing is therefore clear: China intends to place development cooperation, rather than confrontation, at the centre of its international engagement, particularly with countries of the Global South.
As the world approaches the deadline for the UN 2030 Agenda, however, the central question will be whether international commitments can be translated into sufficient financing, technology and practical projects to put the Sustainable Development Goals back on track.
For China, the fifth anniversary of the GDI provides an opportunity to argue that its development model of international cooperation can play a greater role in addressing that challenge.