Chinese Premier Li Keqiang addresses the General Assembly at the United Nations on Sept. 21, 2016 in New York City. (Photo : Getty Images)
China pledged to give $100 million more than it gave last year to the United Nations to fund global sustainable development in 2020, Premier Li Keqiang announced in New York on Monday.
In addition, the Chinese government will contribute $18 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in the next three years, Li said at the United Nations headquarters.
The premier made his remarks during his roundtable address on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Global Process and China's Practice, which was hosted by China's permanent mission to the U.N.
According to Li, China gave a total of 1.76 billion yuan ($264 million) in 2010, 2011, and 2012 to various international development agencies and the Global Fund.
The amount donated by China to U.N. development agencies in 2015 was not immediately available as of press time.
LI added that sustainable development is a common cause for the world, and he called for the international community to tackle unbalanced development, promote inclusive economic growth, and jointly address global challenges like public health and climate change.
"China will continue to make unrelenting efforts to promote sustainable development and will actively participate in cooperation with the international community in this area," he told participants of the event, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.N. General Assembly President Peter Thomson, and the heads of other international organizations.
Li said China brought 400 million people out of poverty in the past 15 years and reduced the mortality rate for children younger than 5 by two-thirds and the mortality rate for pregnant women by three-fourths during that time.
The premier also highlighted China's recent approval of a road map for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a blueprint adopted by the U.N. in September last year to eradicate poverty and hunger, promote equality, and protect the environment in the years leading up to 2030.
Helen Clark, head of the U.N. Development Programme, said the agency looks forward to continuing its work with China to support the country's rapid progress in achieving its sustainable development goals.
China is showing its determination to lead on implementation by being among the countries that participated in the first national voluntary reviews at this year's high-level political forum for sustainable development, Clark said.
Haibing Ma, a senior research associate and China program manager at the Worldwatch Institute, told China Daily that China's rapid economic growth has become one of the positive loading forces for the global economy, which is good for sustainable development goals.
China's pledge showed its contribution as a major country to global governance and its aid to disadvantaged groups around the world, said Wang Yusheng, a researcher at the China Foundation for International Studies and Academic Exchanges.
As China's economic strength grows, it can increasingly help other developing countries to alleviate poverty and eliminate hunger, he added
