Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, stressed the potential of China's Global Development Initiative to accelerate sustainable development, and called for expedited implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) at a high-level conference in Beijing.
Ban made the remarks at the Second High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development, where he called for supporting SDG Acceleration Actions -- initiatives voluntarily undertaken to accelerate the SDG implementation by governments and any other non-state actors, individually or in partnership.
"Global Development Initiative, GDI, and advocate its alignment with the 2030 Agenda. This GDI has the potential to accelerate sustainable development, there is no doubt about it. The critical question, therefore, is how to ensure supports [for] SDG acceleration actions, especially when we face a series of intertwining changes and setbacks," Ban noted.
The conference, themed "Promoting Sustainable Development: Continuous Actions for a Better Future", runs from Thursday to Saturday in Beijing, with over 160 countries and international organizations represented.
The Global Development Initiative, proposed by China three years ago, focuses on shared development and hastening the UN’s sustainable development agenda, with development, action, and unity as its top priorities.
Last July, at the inaugural conference, China announced the establishment of a global development project and funding pool, raising specialized funds from domestic and foreign financial institutions. To date, the project pool has exceeded 1,000 projects, with over 500 completed or in progress.
During the three-day conference, China has signed new cooperation agreements with organizations like the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Discussions among participants cover topics such as promoting modernization in the Global South, energy transition, sustainable development, and global youth responsibilities in the digital age.
Ban Ki-moon urges action on sustainable development at Beijing conference
Ban Ki-moon urges action on sustainable development at Beijing conference
Ban Ki-moon urges action on sustainable development at Beijing conference
An European media industry leader highlighted the transformative influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on the industry, stressing the importance of exchange and cooperation among global media outlets.
The 12th Global Video Media Forum (VMF) opened in Quanzhou City on Tuesday. The two-day event has brought together around 200 representatives from mainstream media and international organizations across more than 60 countries and regions to the historic coastal city under the theme "Intelligence Without Frontiers, Vision Beyond The Horizon - Media's Role in Communication and Cultural Exchange."
In a sidelines interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Adrian Wells, Managing Director of the European News Exchange, a global news provider, shared his insights on how embracing AI and fostering media cooperation can further improve the industry.
"In the professional broadcast and digital industry, we have enough intelligence to know that we have to embrace this technology. We have to take the best parts of it. We have to integrate it with what we already have, our experience, our professionalism, admission for our consumers. Actually, media is in a very challenging environment now. We do have a lot of threats to our traditional ways of going about things. We have to use these new technologies like AI in order to transform ourselves. And we really have to be at the forefront of embracing it, not resisting it," Wells said.
Wells also suggested that media organizations can improve by learning from their counterparts, adapting successful strategies, and incorporating solutions from different environments to enhance their own operations.
"How do we really go about finding those right choices? It's by looking at what everyone else is doing, taking the best of how different organizations are using new technologies, adapting their business models, trying to reach consumers in a different way. And really cherry-picking the best examples, the best use cases across the industry to try and reimagine what we're doing in our own environments, whether it's in China, in the United Kingdom, in the United States or in any European country. Look across the industry who is doing what, how are they solving some of these problems and use that as a kind of nice salad mixture to try and find the solutions in your own newsroom organization," he said.
In addition, Wells highlighted the forum's positive role in promoting global media exchange and collaboration.
"I think that if you ask anyone about cooperation and collaboration, everyone's for it, right? It's a no-brainer. Of course, we want to collaborate. We want to cooperate. But actually, when you come to collaborating and cooperating, it's actually a bit of a pain as well, because you got to devote time for reaching out, to be aware of what other industries are doing, what your colleagues are doing across the industry," Wells said.
So, I think the good thing about this forum is that we're in an environment now where we can mix, you've got a lot of different people from news organizations, from different parts of the world that have got different ideas. And I think we all learn a lot from hearing about different experiences across the world, and really trying to sort of create some of these ties. Otherwise, if we don't make that effort, they just won't be there," said the industry insider.
European media professional highlights AI power, global exchange in industry
