Jorge Chediek, director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, speaks during an event for the UN Day of South-South Cooperation at the UN headquarters in New York Sept. 12, 2017. China is really a true leader in South-South Cooperation, Jorge Chediek said during an interview with Xinhua on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- China is really a true leader in South-South cooperation, UN secretary general's envoy on South-South Cooperation said Tuesday.
China has been engaged very extensively in South-South cooperation, Jorge Chediek, director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, told Xinhua after a ceremony marking the United Nations Day for South-South cooperation that fell on Tuesday.
The UN Day for South-South Cooperation celebrates the economic, social and political developments made in recent years by regions and countries in the South and highlights the UN's efforts to enhance technical cooperation among developing countries.
Over the last few years, China has devoted significant resources to South-South cooperation, Chediek said.
Building a community of shared future for mankind proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping "is in accordance with the UN values," Chediek said, adding that China's commitment to connecting countries through infrastructure, trade, commerce and people-to-people exchanges is very important for developing countries.
Chediek hailed Xi's vision on global governance. "We all live on one planet. If we don't work together to address the common challenges, we will not be able to solve them," he said, adding that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative also embodies the idea of building a community of shared future.
The Belt and Road Initiative comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which aims to build trade and infrastructure networks along the ancient Silk Road routes connecting Asia with Europe, Africa and beyond.
China is an example of how economic policies and enlightened social policies have managed to roll the economy massively and take hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, Chediek said. [ One of the contributions China is making is to show that in one generation you can basically transform a society, as the people and government of China have done recently, he added.
