Chinese President Xi Jinping plays a unique and much-needed role in promoting global solidarity to solve the pressing issues facing humanity, said Colombian President Gustavo Petro in Beijing on Wednesday.
Petro praised Xi for actively fostering cooperation and bolstering relations between China and like-minded countries, during an exclusive interview with China Media Group (CMG) after his meeting with the Chinese president at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday morning.
The Colombian leader was in Beijing to attend the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum, which was held on Tuesday, and a top priority of his visit was to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with China.
The leadership meeting yielded a major achievement when the two countries signed a cooperation plan on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), marking the South American country's formal accession to the China-proposed strategy for promoting global development.
The Colombian foreign ministry, in a social media post, hailed the move as a historic step, saying it will bring new opportunities for investment, technological cooperation and sustainable development for both Colombia and China.
Speaking with CMG, Petro recalled his past exchanges with President Xi who he said deeply impressed him, as he found in Xi a distinctive leadership style with a far-sighted global vision.
"I met President Xi twice and had exchanges with him on the occasion of different multilateral conferences. In President Xi, I always feel a unique vibe. Today, we have reached a tipping point [in history] where exceedingly superb wisdom is required from us to cope with; it indicates that the human society is entering a new stage where no country can make itself immune from the impact alone. Take greenhouse gas emissions as an example, no country can single-handedly solve the climate crisis. The inaction of countries whose interests are deeply entangled with fossil fuel energy such as oil and coal is like a metaphorical countdown dragging us into an irreversible crisis," he said.
During a time like this, Petro said, President Xi's continued efforts to rally like-minded countries to solve global issues for humanity are even more important.

Colombian president praises Xi's vision of global development

Colombian president praises Xi's vision of global development