CIDCA official attends 5th Asia-Pacific Director General Forum for South-South and Triangular Cooperation

From Nov 27 to 28, 2023, Tian Lin, director-general of the Department of Supervision and Evaluation of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), attended the fifth Asia-Pacific Director General Forum for South-South and Triangular Cooperation in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Themed "Digital Innovation and South-South Cooperation: Driving Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific", the forum drew the attendance of over 100 people, including director-general-level officials from development institutes in Asia-Pacific countries and relevant international organizations, permanent representatives of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and think tank representatives.

In his address, Tian said that China in recent years has actively promoted connectivity in digital infrastructure, technology and services, and people’s livelihoods by means of international development cooperation, making significant contributions to eliminating the digital divide in developing countries. The China-proposed Global Development Initiative (GDI) is aligned with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the digital economy is one of the eight key areas under the GDI. As he introduced, China has been actively implementing its 32 measures for the GDI, established the Global Development Promotion Center and its network, established and upgraded the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund by increasing its funding to 4 billion dollars, raised 12 billion dollars from domestic and international financial institutes as a special fund, and established a project pool and funding pool for global development, all of which serve as important platforms in promoting digital connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region. Lastly, he pledged readiness to work with all parties to deepen cooperation in digital innovation and to continuously forge new development impetus for the region. 

During the forum, Tian visited Undersecretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the ESCAP Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, and met with heads of development departments of Thailand, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, with whom he held in-depth exchanges on jointly implementing the GDI.