On November 6th, the 16th Belt and Road Eco-Agriculture and Food Safety Forum was successfully held in Shanghai as a concurrent event of the 6th China International Import Expo. The forum was hosted by the State Administration for Market Regulation and co-organized by the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, the Development Research Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the Secretariat of the Belt and Road Eco-Agriculture and Food Safety Forum. Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China, attended the opening ceremony of the forum and delivered a speech.
Excellencies, ladies, and gentlemen,
I would like to thank the State Administration for Market Regulation and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government for inviting me to attend the 16th Belt and Road Eco-Agriculture and Food Safety Forum.
Jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative is a major initiative proposed by President Xi in 2013. Many UN Entities, funds, and projects have signed memorandums of cooperation with the Chinese government to explore how to jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative and provide greater impetus for accelerating the realization of sustainable development goals. Especially the first three SDGs, including No Poverty, Zero Hunger, and Good Health and Well-Being, have not yet been achieved globally. Whether it is the Belt and Road Initiative or the Global Development Initiative, we believe that it is very important that it injects the power and vitality we need to achieve the goal of sustainable development.
I have served half of my career in Africa. I have seen first time the difference the Belt and Road Initiative has made
in Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Africa, as well as many parts of Africa I have traveled. What is important is that what we want to see happen is more collaboration, more partnerships, more cooperation, and more dialogue around human progress. We must put the people at the center of that and provide them a jobs, get them skills, and development opportunities. According to the data released by the World Bank, after all relevant projects under the Belt and Road framework are fully implemented, covering about 150 countries, and will lift 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty and will lift about 32 million people out of moderate poverty. This is very important for the United Nation’s concern because our hope is for human development as I spoke about. The success of this forum will also create the most valuable cooperation opportunities for the Belt and Road countries and further achieve more tangible outcomes.
<The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Special Edition> indicates that 575 million people will be still living in extreme poverty by 2030 as the current trend continues, and only one-third of countries will halve their poverty levels. As of 2021, the number of hungry people worldwide has exceeded 800 million. The poorest and most vulnerable groups in the world are experiencing the most severe impact of unprecedented global challenges.
China has made significant achievements in poverty reduction, with over 750 million people lifted out of extreme poverty over the past 40 years. China made use of 9% of the world’s arable land but feeds 1.4 billion people. China is also helping Africa expand its grain crop cultivation, encouraging Chinese enterprises to increase investment in African agriculture, strengthening agricultural technology cooperation in seed industries, and assisting in the transformation and upgrading of African agriculture. Africa has enormous potential in its agricultural economy, and its output value will rise to $1 trillion by 2030.
The achievements of China’s poverty alleviation have brought important insights to the world, mainly through the following three major experiences: first, strong political will, determination, and action demonstrated by President Xi leading the Chinese government and people; Secondly, there is a strong public policy, without which the achievement of poverty alleviation will not be achieved; Finally, strengthening partnerships is an important cornerstone for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
I hope that the 16th Belt and Road Eco-Agriculture and Food Safety Forum will achieve comprehensive success. I hope the forum can bring more cooperation, more partnerships, better uphold multilateralism, take more measures to ensure that we achieve sustainable development goals by 2030, and achieve a beautiful vision of peace, more prosperity, more development, and mutual understanding among different people and countries.
The theme of the forum is, ‘Deepening the Belt and Road Cooperation in Agriculture and Food: Jointly Creating a Better Life for Humanity.’ Leaders from the State Administration for Market Regulation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, National Health Commission, General Administration of Customs, as well as leaders from Shanghai, Henan, Hainan, and other provincial governments, representatives of provincial market supervision departments, representatives of relevant United Nations organizations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and embassies of South Africa, the Netherlands, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, Tanzania, Senegal, among others, along with over 400 delegates from domestic and international enterprises, participated in the forum. Guests collectively deliberated on agricultural cooperation and food industry development, contributing insights and strategies for the high-quality development of agriculture and food industries in the Belt and Road Initiative, highlighting the role of the forum as a platform for policy interpretation.
2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative and the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Eco-Agriculture and Food Safety Forum. Over the past decade, the forum has been successfully held for 15 sessions within the framework of the National Food Safety Publicity Week and the China International Import Expo. The forum has solidly promoted high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road, extensively conducted exchanges and cooperation in the agricultural and food industries, played a significant role in the development and safety of agricultural food industries in the countries along the route, and facilitated smooth international trade among the Belt and Road countries.
