Xi Jinping announces additional $1 billion for Global Development Fund

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday announced an additional $1 billion to the $3 billion already committed by China to the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund as he held a high-level dialogue on global development in virtual format on the margins of the 14th BRICS Summit.

“China will allocate more resources for global development cooperation,” Xi told the meeting.

“We will upgrade the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund to a Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, and add $1 billion to the fund on top of the $3 billion already committed,” he said.

“We will also increase input to the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund” he said, adding that such efforts will further support cooperation under the Global Development Initiative (GDI) initiated by him earlier.

The dialogue was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and Vice President Hamilton Mourao of Brazil, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. The participants included President Abdelmadjid Tebboune of Algeria, President Alberto Fernández of Argentina, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi of Iran, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan.

President Macky Sall of Senegal, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan, Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali of Ethiopia, Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama of Fiji, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob of Malaysiaand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha of Thailand also attended it, the ministry said.

On Thursday, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) said they will continue to discuss the possibility of admitting new countries to the five-nation grouping on the basis of "full consultation and consensus."

"We note with satisfaction the progress made in BRICS institutional development and stress that BRICS cooperation needs to embrace changes and keep abreast with the times," said the declaration issued at the end of the China-hosted virtual summit of the bloc.

For the third day on Friday, Xi, who hosted the 14th BRICS on Wednesday and Thursday, attacked the US for sanctions against Russia in the ongoing Ukraine war and forming new alliances to contain China.

“The protectionist policies will boomerang. Anyone attempting to form exclusive blocs will end up isolating himself; maximum sanctions serve nobody's interest, and practices of decoupling and supply disruption are neither feasible nor sustainable,” he said.

He also said development was being politicised and marginalised by some countries that are forming "small yards with high fences”, imposing maximum sanctions, and deliberately creating division and confrontation.

His criticism against the US, EU sanctions was the dominant theme of his speeches at the BRICS Business Forum on Wednesday and the 14th BRICS summit on Thursday.

“It is important that we pursue development in real earnest and build an open world economy, and shape a global governance system and institutional environment that are more just and equitable,” he said.

He called for jointly fostering global development partnership. Developed countries should fulfil their obligations, developing countries should deepen cooperation, and the South and the North should meet each other halfway.

Recalling his experience of working as a farmer in a small village in China in the 1960s, Xi said there “I experienced first-hand the hardships in farming and saw how the local people struggled to make ends meet.”

“Half a century later, I revisited the village and found the villagers no longer in want of food or clothing, as evidenced by the happy smiles on their faces,” he said, stressing placing development at the centre of the international agenda.

Xi called for implementing the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and building a political consensus that development is valued by all people and cooperation is jointly pursued by all countries.

The Covid-19 pandemic has eroded the gains of global development over the past many years, and the implementation of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been confronted with headwinds, Xi said.

Meanwhile, people around the world have even stronger aspirations for peace, development and cooperation, with the emerging markets and developing countries firming up the resolve to stay united and seek self-strengthening, he added.