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IPFS News Link • China

China's Official Position Paper On The Implementation Of The 2030 Agenda For Sustainable Develop

• https://www.technocracy.news

The United Nations Sustainable Development Summit held in September 2015 laid out common visions of the world to seek win-win cooperation and development of all. The Summit adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which provides guidance to national development and international development cooperation in the next 15 years, marking a milestone in global development process.

Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the joint task of all countries. While facing with sluggish world economic recovery, widening development gap between the North and the South, dwindling momentum in international development cooperation, the international community is also confronted with challenges like refugee crisis, terrorism, public health threats and the climate change. All countries should work together to translate leaders' commitments to concrete actions by implementing the 2030 Agenda. Development could serve as means to address various global challenges, speed up economic transformation and upgrading, map out the course of equitable, open, all-round, innovation-driven and sustainable development and advance the well-being of mankind.

I. General Principles

-Principle of Peaceful Development. Countries should safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN Charter through commitment to peaceful coexistence, build a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation, and foster peaceful, stable and harmonious regional and international environment enabling for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

-Principle of Win-win Cooperation. Governments, private sectors, civil society and international organizations should foster a sense of community of shared interests and establish all-round partnership in playing respective role in global development cooperation. Countries should jointly participate in global development progress and development rules making, share development gains on an equal footing.

-Principle of Integration and Coordination. It is essential to make development serve the people and put people first. Countries should give priority to poverty eradication and people's livelihood, safeguard social equity and justice and firmly implement the concept of sustainable development, so as to achieve economic, social and environmental development in a balanced way, as well as harmony between individuals and the society and between man and nature.

-Principle of Inclusiveness and Openness. Countries should commit to achieving inclusive economic growth and building an inclusive society, where development gains are shared by all and no one is left behind. Concerted efforts should be made to build an open world economy and increase the representation and voice of developing countries in global economic governance.

-Principle of Sovereignty and Voluntary Action. Reaffirming that every country has full sovereignty over its own economic development and implementation of the 2030 Agenda, countries should be encouraged to formulate their domestic development strategies and take measures to implement the 2030 Agenda in accordance with their national conditions and respective characteristics. It is important to respect every country's choice for development path and draw on experience of each other.

-Principle of "Common but Differentiated Responsibilities". The implementation of the 2030 Agenda is a common objective, while the means of implementation should be allowed to be differentiated, due to diversified national conditions and respective capabilities, so that all countries would be able to make their own contributions to the global implementation.

II. Key Areas and Priorities

-Eradicate Poverty and Hunger. Poverty is a primary challenge to the international community and a major threat to sustainable development. Poverty eradication should be at a prominent position of national development strategy, and targeted measures should be taken to alleviate and eliminate poverty. Significant efforts should also be made to enhance agricultural production capacities and food security, laying a solid foundation for poverty eradication.

-Maintain Economic Growth. Economic growth is the fundamental way to eradicate poverty and improve people's livelihood. Countries should formulate economic policies suited to their national conditions, promote economic restructuring and upgrading and change unsustainable consumption and production patterns. It is important to implement innovation-driven development strategies, strengthen technological innovation and upgrading, and generate momentum for sustainable, healthy and stable economic growth.

-Advance Industrialization. It is important to promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, informatization, urbanization and agricultural modernization, to inject impetus to coordinated development between urban and rural areas and between the three dimensions of sustainable development. Advanced manufacturing and emerging industries should be developed along with upgrading the traditional industries.

-Improve social security and social services. It is important to improve public service system, including employment, education and health care, and ensure equal access to basic public services. Governments should pursue a more proactive employment policy, provide policy assistance for new businesses and encourage job creation by business start-ups. It is also essential to guarantee the right to education for all, including the vulnerable groups, improve the quality of education and ensure that everyone has the opportunity for lifelong learning. Efforts should also be made to provide minimum social protection and expand the coverage of social security. Basic health care system should be established and improved to make basic medical and health services more equitable and accessible, which is vital to everyone's dignity of life.

-Safeguard Equity and Justice. Improving people's well-being and promoting all-round human development should be the starting point and objective of development. Countries should put people first, strive to eradicate inequality in opportunity, distribution sharing and institution building, and ensure that development gains are fairly shared by all. Efforts should also be made to advance gender equality, empower women in all aspects, and earnestly strengthen protection of the rights of vulnerable groups including women, minors and the disabled.

-Protect the Environment. Public awareness should be raised concerning ecological conservation featuring respect for, conformity with and protection of nature. It is imperative to step up environmental protection efforts, promote comprehensive prevention and control of air, water and soil pollution, focus on improving environmental quality, and form a system of integrated environmental governance by governments, enterprises and public sector. Efforts should be made to strengthen the protection and recovery of natural ecological system, preserve biological diversity, promote sustainable management of forests, protect the marine environment and build protective barriers for eco-security.

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