10 November 2016: The 2016 High-Level Policy Forum on Global Governance explored the modalities of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its synergies with the existing global governance system, in particular the potential linkages between the BRI and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The forum explored how to help promote economic and transport corridors that foster social and environmental sustainability to benefit over 4.5 billion people living in the 70 Belt and Road countries, which are located in Asia, the Pacific, Europe and Africa, with a total of more than US$20 trillion aggregate economic volume.
The Forum was co-hosted by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), and took place from 10-11 November 2016 in Beijing, China. The event brought together Belt and Road countries, UN officials, development practitioners, think tanks, and the private sector.
Delivering the keynote speech, Tegegnework Gettu, UN Under Secretary-General and UNDP Associate Administrator, noted that BRI is part of “a new trend and innovative contribution to global governance,” adding that through building connectivity physically, digitally, financially and socially, it could serve as an accelerator for achieving the SDGs. Zhang Xiaoqiang Executive Vice Chairman of the CCIEE, stressed the need to promote a “green, low-carbon and sustainable BRI that is innovative and helps facilitate discussion, building and sharing.”
The discussions held during the Forum will contribute to the upcoming BRI Summit in 2017. Based on the key outcomes of the Forum, a Policy Report will be compiled and made available in 2017, which aims to serve as policy tool for international and Chinese policy makers on how to better link the BRI and the SDGs for greater global impact.
On 4 November 2016, UNDP China and the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences (CAFS) of the Ministry of Finance, supported by the China International Centre for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE), launched a report on ‘Sustainable Financing for Poverty Alleviation in China.’ The publication includes information on the financial landscape for poverty alleviation in China and, drawing on China’s experiences, aims to provide the international community with insights on how financial resources can be mobilized to achieve development outcomes.
The report showcases five case studies that feature a variety of innovative financing mechanisms, including incentives and risk control measures, and proposes recommendations to help reinforce China’s financing efforts for poverty reduction in a sustainable way.
The publication: presents China’s overall and staged poverty alleviation progress and the role of financing over time; identifies four main types of financing, namely fiscal, credit, social and international funds, which comply with China’s major poverty reduction approaches; and outlines challenges and prospects for China’s poverty financing in the context of social-economic changes. The publication calls for substantive changes in poverty governance, such as using a participatory approach and a multitude of criteria to target the poor, or further decentralizing the management of financial resources in order to support context-specific solutions. [UNDP China Press Release on Global Governance Forum][UNDP China News on Global Governance Forum][UNDP China Report Press Release]