Politics
15:15, 03-May-2017
UN General Assembly president on Belt and Road Forum
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The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation will be held in Beijing on May 14 and 15, and high-ranking officials from over 100 countries and international organizations will be attending the event, including the president of the United Nations General Assembly, Peter Thomson.
A veteran diplomat from Fiji and a frequent visitor to China, Thomson said he is happy to see what China has achieved and what it is pursuing now, as CGTN’s Michael Butterworth reports.
The Belt and Road Initiative is "a very important part of 21st century economic development" especially for Asia and Europe, and has a consequences for the global economy as a whole, he noted. “It's development-oriented, something that we badly need at this time.”
China first proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, with the aim of focusing on connectivity and cooperation. Two years later, the UN adopted its own 2030 agenda for sustainable development to promote shared prosperity. Many of the 17 goals within the UN agenda coincide with what the Belt and Road Initiative hopes to achieve.
"The Belt and Road Initiative is very much in harmony with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. We try and marry the two as much as possible and I'm sure it will prove to be an important part of our achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030," said Thomson.