China's experience in poverty eradication and sustainable development offers valuable lessons for other developing countries to learn from, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in Beijing on Wednesday.
The UN chief was in the Chinese capital as a special guest of the three-day 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which is running from Wednesday to Friday and is the largest diplomatic event hosted by China in recent years, with the highest attendance of foreign leaders.
In an exclusive interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) ahead of the summit, Guterres said China's record of lifting hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty coupled with its current technological prowess offer a beacon for other developing countries.
"China was able to eradicate extreme poverty. China is still a developing country, but China is in the top performance of some of the most sophisticated areas of technology. And so I believe that to study what China has done, to learn with the Chinese process, is something that will be very important. Of course, no one size fits all, countries are different, but it's an experience that all developing countries should study to see to what extent they can profit from that experience, to overcome their dramatic development gaps," he said.
October 1 will mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, while it is also 53 years since the restoration of the country's lawful seat in the United Nations.
Ahead of the anniversary, Guterres sent his congratulations to the Chinese people and also hailed China's commitment to multilateralism and its work with the UN on multiple issues.
"This should represent a moment of a renewed and deep commitment of China with multilateralism and with the UN, which represents two traditional ways of China to assert itself in the world. Having said so, China, because of the dimension of (its) economy and because obviously (it) became to a large extent the factory of the world, China has also a huge effort to make in reduction emissions in the next few years and we trust the determination of China to play that role," he said.
Guterres also noted China's huge efforts in cutting carbon emissions and its work towards green and sustainable development, which he recognized are also fundamental objectives in the country's cooperation with African countries and in the projects supported by the Belt and Road Initiative.
"At the same time, it is very important to say, and we saw it in President Xi's intervention in the Belt and Road, that green development is a fundamental objective in the development cooperation of China with African countries, and we see it again in the present summit, the importance that is attributed by China to the sustainable development and to the green development as a fundamental vector of that cooperation," said the UN chief.
Developing countries can draw from China's development experience: UN chief
The ongoing China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) has attracted scores of new participants this year, with repeat participants also making their mark at the fair.
Themed "Global Services, Shared Prosperity," the trade fair, opened in China's capital city Beijing on Thursday and runs till Monday.
The CIFTIS is becoming more and more international, with a total of 36 Belt and Road partners showcasing their products.
Tharaka Dissanayake who works at the Sri Lankan Embassy in China has participated in the fair many times. He came to promote tea culture this time and believes that tea culture can better strengthen cooperation and exchanges between the two countries.
"For any commodity, it's a huge market. Obviously, this is one of the greatest platforms close to the Chinese consumer, to introduce ourselves, introduce our products, whatever the services or innovation," said Abeysekara, third secretary of the Sri Lankan Embassy in China.
An old friend of the fair was playing an African drum and the rhythmic sound attracted a large crowd.
"I'm here again. Many people took my WeChat and my contact, my number. So they called me, they ordered and they need more," said a Ghanaian exhibitor.
Dewi Avilia, Counselor for Social and Cultural Affairs at the Indonesian Embassy in China, is also attending the exhibition for the second time. She emphasized the need to promote cultural tourism as recent policies have made it easy for more Indonesian friends to travel to China.
"Chengdu and Chongqing have become two of the most popular tourist destinations for Indonesia. A lot of people now are not only talking about Shanghai, but are also talking about Chengdu, visiting the pandas and also Chongqing, because of the landscape. I think it is a good start," said Avilia.
This year's fair has also attracted huge number of new participants showcasing quality products.
"This is my first time. It's a great opportunity that we are able to showcase our products and to let people know about Uganda and Ugandan culture," said Mukisa Joseph, a Ugandan exhibitor.
"The expectations about this fair is to meet many people in the coffee industry. So far we have had a lot of consumers who are interested in roasted coffee. I'm still expecting more," said Mutijima Emma, a Rwandan exhibitor.
An Uzbek exhibitor, who is also a newcomer, initially intended to use this platform to promote his goods, but unexpectedly met partners from many other countries and found potential business opportunities here.
"This is a good platform to see the different global products and see the Chinese market all together. I met so many different people, but I also met many foreign people who are interested in our products. So I call these kind of events more like a globalization event," said Asilbek Khonkhujaev, an Uzbek exhibitor.
The fair has attracted attendees from 85 countries and international organizations, with over 450 Fortune 500 enterprises and companies taking the lead in their respective industries.
Newcomers, old friends gather at CIFTIS to seek new opportunities
