Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent a congratulatory letter to a high-level dialogue marking the fifth anniversary of the Global Development Initiative (GDI), held at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday.

Development is the eternal theme of human society and is key to promoting the well-being of humankind, Xi said.

Xi recalled that he proposed the GDI at the UN General Assembly five years ago to advance global development cooperation, reinvigorate the global development cause, and help accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Over the past five years, with the joint efforts of all parties, the GDI has been widely implemented, with cooperation projects under the initiative taking root and yielding outcomes in more than 120 countries, writing a new chapter of common development and win-win cooperation, Xi noted.

Xi pointed out that nowadays, changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world, and people in all countries are more eager for development.

As the world's largest developing country and a member of the Global South, China stands ready to work with all parties to uphold a people-centered development philosophy, advance the GDI, turn the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals into reality, and make new and greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for humanity, Xi said.

(Cover: African scholars visit a smart blueberry cultivation facility in Jinhua, east China's Zhejiang Province, May 23, 2026. /VCG)