China's commitment on South-South Cooperation hailed at UN roundtable

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks while co-hosting the High-level Roundtable on South-South Cooperation at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, Sept. 26, 2015. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 26 -- China's announcement to support and promote South-South Cooperation was widely hailed Saturday at a roundtable co-hosted by China and the United Nations.

"I am deeply grateful for your very generous support and strong commitment. This is a far-reaching vision for your commitment," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonwhile co-hosting the High-level Round Table on South-South Cooperation.

Chinese President Xi Jinpingannounced that China will provide 2 billion U.S. dollars to support South-South Cooperation when addressing the UN Sustainable Development Summit the same day. He also made a series of concrete initiatives to support developing countries at the roundtable.

South African President Jacob Zuma, who chairs the Group of 77, thanked President Xi for the "practical and concrete" proposals. "This is highly appreciated," said Zuma.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari called the meeting "very important".

"This meeting is important because it represents an opportunity to exchange views on how to strengthen South-South Cooperation in the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda," said Buhari.

PakistanPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif highlighted the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as "an inspiring model of South-South Cooperation."

"It will bring huge economic and development benefits not just to our two countries but the entire region and beyond. The project formed an important part of the One Belt One Road Initiative. We greatly admire the vision underlying this initiative," he added.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak congratulated President Xi "for his steadfast commitment to South-South Cooperation and for making very generous, concrete, action-oriented proposals which will yield positive results".

Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, prime minister of Samoa, applauded "the tremendous work and contributions of the Chinese government in promoting and implementing South-South Cooperation."

Last year, Samoa graduated from the category of Least Developed Countries. "This would not have been possible without the support of a wide array of partners, some of whom, including China, are themselves developing countries," he said.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina thanked President Xi for hosting the meeting and his offer to promote agriculture, health-care, education and other areas in developing counties, calling the initiatives "pragmatic."

Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen noted that South-South Cooperation is increasingly important for the implementation of post-2015 development agenda adopted Friday.

"Today, china is an increasingly important provider of development assistance," he said.

"I would also like to welcome china's announcement to increase funding and support to other developing countries to combat climate change and implement development agenda and for the concrete proposals you have brought to the table during this meeting," he added.