Nicaraguan presidential adviser visits Beijing, strengthening ties

The steadily strengthening ties between China and Nicaragua were highlighted by a further visit to Beijing by presidential adviser Laureano Ortega Murillo in July.

Ortega attended the first high-level conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development, which attracted senior representation from throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America, including the Foreign Ministers of Burundi, Gabon, Uganda and Laos.

Meeting Ortega on July 11, China’s most senior foreign affairs official Wang Yi said that his country always views China-Nicaragua relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, regards Nicaragua as a trustworthy partner, will firmly support Nicaragua in defending its independence and national sanctity, and will firmly support Nicaragua in independently choosing a development path in line with its national conditions.

China, he added, is willing to upgrade the strategic level of bilateral relations with Nicaragua, promote the implementation of the free trade agreement, strengthen coordination in the multilateral field, and take a clear-cut stand against all hegemonism and power politics.

The following report on the meeting between Laureano Ortega and Wang Yi was originally carried by the Xinhua News Agency. We also reprint the full text of the statement for the First High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development from the same source.

Senior Chinese diplomat meets with presidential adviser of Nicaragua

Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with Laureano Ortega Murillo, presidential adviser of Nicaragua, in Beijing on Tuesday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, welcomed Laureano to China to attend the first high-level conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development, saying that in the process of promoting the Global Development Initiative, China can become Nicaragua’s closest partner and play an important role in Nicaragua’s development and improvement of people’s livelihood.

Since the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and Nicaragua, cooperation in various fields has achieved fruitful results. China always views China-Nicaragua relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, regards Nicaragua as a trustworthy partner, will firmly support Nicaragua in defending its independence and national sanctity, and firmly support Nicaragua in independently choosing a development path in line with its national conditions, Wang said.

China is willing to upgrade the strategic level of bilateral relations with Nicaragua, promote the implementation of the free trade agreement, strengthen coordination in the multilateral field, and take a clear-cut stand against all hegemonism and power politics, Wang said.

Laureano said that Nicaragua fully recognized and highly supported a series of major initiatives concerning the future and destiny of mankind, such as the Global Development Initiative.

Nicaragua firmly supports China in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, adheres to the one-China principle, and firmly opposes the containment of China by a few countries. Nicaragua will always stand with China, he added.

---

Beijing Statement for the First High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development

The following is the full text of a statement for the First High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development released on July 10.

Beijing Statement for the First High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development

I. From July 9 to 10, 2023, the First High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development was held in Beijing. All parties discussed global development issues of common interest under the theme of “Global Development Initiative: Echo the Development Agenda and Call for Global Action.” China and all countries represented by high-level delegates in person agreed to release the Beijing Statement for First High-Level Conference of the Forum on Global Action for Shared Development.

II. The meeting noted that the world today is confronted by profound changes, rising geopolitical tensions, intensifying major-country rivalry, slow progress in North-South cooperation, and deviation from development issues, along with a widening development gap. We are seeing clear signs of slowdown in the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Development, especially cooperative development, is key to solving global issues and achieving sustainable development for humanity. Thus, it is more pressing than ever before to put development front and center on the international agenda.

III. The meeting pointed out that the international community has made great efforts to address development issues, tackle global development deficit, and jointly maintain and promote world peace and development, which has achieved positive outcomes. The meeting commended China for proposing the Global Development Initiative (GDI) to accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The GDI highlights priorities of, blazes new paths for and injects impetus into global sustainable development. The meeting noted with satisfaction the important early harvests of the 32 important measures announced by China to implement the GDI and promote global sustainable development and its continuous efforts in this regard.

IV. The meeting called on all sides to take the 2023 SDG Summit in September this year as an opportunity to: build consensus, pool resources and bridge the divide for development; forge a united, equal, balanced and inclusive high-quality global development partnership; and jointly foster a new era of global development featuring benefits for all, balance, coordination, inclusiveness, win-win cooperation and common prosperity.

——Intensifying the efforts to address the most urgent global challenges such as poverty reduction, food security, and public health security. We will deepen policy exchanges, experience sharing and practical cooperation on poverty reduction, promote the building of demonstration villages on agricultural development and poverty reduction, improve livelihood facilities for education, as well as water and power supply, and boost the efforts to end poverty in all its forms. We will continue to provide emergency food assistance, medical teams and free medical services to countries in need. We will actively engage in global and regional food security governance and support the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) of the United Nations in playing their active roles. We will enhance technical experience sharing and application in areas such as storage, logistics, food processing, grain conservation and food loss reduction, help other developing countries enhance their capacity of food production, storage, and loss reduction, and keep the global industrial and supply chains for food and agriculture industries stable and smooth. We will have more international exchanges on disaster prevention and mitigation, enhance humanitarian cooperation to forestall and resolve public risks and emergencies such as major disasters and epidemics.

——Scaling up input in areas such as climate change, green development and connectivity in the digital era to gather sustainable momentum for global development. We will enhance international collaboration on climate response and help developing countries level up their capacity to fight climate change through joint construction of low-carbon demonstration zones, climate change mitigation and adaptation projects, and training programs on capacity building. We will focus on the sustainable use of resources, promote the techniques of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and enhance the level of green development. We will support the protection of the ecological environment and biological diversity. We will push forward connectivity in the digital era, the construction of traditional and new types of infrastructure in a coordinated way, and improve infrastructure accessibility and trade facilitation.

——Paying closer attention to industrialization, digitalization and personnel capacity building, and fostering new growth areas. We will ramp up cooperation and investment attraction in the special economic zones, industrial parks and science parks by mobilizing aid for trade. We will actively seek greater synergy among digital development strategies and advance digital industrial cooperation. We will conduct efficient, inclusive and fair cooperation on human resources development. By making good use of Luban Workshops, we will support the training and cultivation of technology professionals, and enhance education and exchanges among youth and women.

——Building a new type of North-South partnership for development cooperation. We will support the UN in coordinating global efforts for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and advocate the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits in global governance. We will continue to promote North-South cooperation as the main channel and step up South-South cooperation and tripartite cooperation. We will be open to drawing on the constructive factors of all parties with regard to international development cooperation’s concepts and rules. We uphold the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs and commit to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. We will pay attention to addressing insecurity in development and ensure that everyone has equal access to development benefits.

V. The meeting expressed appreciation to China for hosting this meeting. It noted with satisfaction that the conference released the Guidelines on Global Development Project Pool and the Guidelines on Global Development Project Pool Financing. Moreover, consensus has also been reached on properly using the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund and the development fund newly raised in this meeting. We expect the Global Development Promotion Center (GDPC) to continue fully playing the coordination and promotion role by the network secretariat set by the Forum, thereby supporting the integrated implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the GDI.