Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will participate as the special representative of President Xi Jinping in the multitude of diplomatic discussions taking place next week at the New York City headquarters of the United Nations, the Foreign Ministry has announced. Included in Wang’s schedule is speaking at the UN’s Sept. 22-23 Summit of the Future, the UN General Assembly, and one of the Security Council High Level Open Debates; participating in the BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting; and holding many bilateral meetings. In this “period of turbulence and transformation” in the world, Wang will elaborate China’s vision for how nations can together resolve these crises, as put forward in China’s Global Development, Global Security and Global Civilization Initiatives, spokesman Lin Jian reported in the Ministry’s Sept. 19 briefing.
The Global Development Initiative (GDI) is top on that agenda. “On the path toward development and prosperity, no country or individual should be left behind. This is the vision of the GDI, as well as the goal advocated by the UN,” Foreign Ministry Press spokeswoman Mao Ning elaborated the next day. She reported that over the past three years since the GDI was launched, more than 80 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the GDI, over 150 programs have been funded through China’s Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, and “the Global Development Promotion Center Network is bringing more members on board.” Foreign Minister Wang will attend an event called “GDI Support for the Global South—We Are in Action” which will be held during the UNGA, “to explore development cooperation with various parties and draw support for development and prosperity of the Global South,” she reported.
