United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has praised the series of development initiatives proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling them crucial responses to global challenges and key to improving governance.
These include the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative.
In an exclusive interview with China Media Group (CMG), Guterres noted that the world is facing an increasingly complex landscape marked by rising conflicts, widening inequality, and the misuse of cultural and religious identities, issues that demand fresh approaches to development, security, and dialogue.
The UN chief highlighted that the Global Development Initiative offers a timely solution to the difficulties confronting developing countries, while the Global Security Initiative reflects the urgent need to uphold fairness and justice in international security affairs.
"I think that corresponds to a clear response to the realities that we face. I mean, we see a multiplication of conflicts. We see, as I said, impunity and disrespect for international law. So it is obvious that we need a new perspective of global security. On the other hand, there are deep inequalities in the global economy. And those inequalities are creating dramatic problems to countries in the developing world that are more fragile, that are drowning in debt, that have no access to concessional funding at sufficient levels that are not able to take profit of the technologies that exist to improve the situation of their peoples. On the other hand, we have a financial architecture that is unfair, that is ineffective. So it is clear that we need new forms of governance at the global economic level and so a development initiative is essential," said Guterres.
Turning to the Global Civilization Initiative, Guterres emphasized that fostering mutual respect and dialogue among civilizations is indispensable for countering the misuse of cultural and religious identities by forces with destructive intentions.
"And on the other hand, we see that culture, religion in many parts of the world are being used, not that in themselves they are a problem, but they can be used by those that have, I would say, very negative objectives. They can be used to try to put people against each other, and it's fundamental to have a serious dialogue of civilizations. We have in the UN created a global alliance on civilizations, which proves once again that an initiative of that kind is absolutely necessary. So I see a perfect align of the concerns we have and the initiatives that you have mentioned," said the UN chief.
Guterres was in Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, held from August 31 to September 1, where leaders from over 20 countries and heads of 10 international organizations convened for the largest SCO gathering to date.
Xi proposed the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative respectively in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
UN chief hails China-proposed initiatives as vital for global governance
UN chief hails China-proposed initiatives as vital for global governance
UN chief hails China-proposed initiatives as vital for global governance
