In lead-up to summit, UN leader praises Beijing for putting climate atop agenda

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commended China for leading the G20 toward an action agenda that supports development and climate change.

"For the first time in the history of G20, Chinese leadership is aligning the action agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals and the climate change agreement in their agenda of the G20," Ban said on Aug 26 in an interview with several Chinese media outlets at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

"This is the first time that G20 leaders are gathering to discuss on both SDGs and climate change, how we can implement this in parallel."

The 11th G20 summit will be held in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province from Sept 4 to 5, with the theme "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy".

Ban, who will attend the G20 for the last time as secretary-general, said the theme reflects the spirit of the 2030 Development Agenda, which was approved by world leaders last September. His second five-year term will conclude at year's end.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that the G20 summit will prioritize development. "We will push to adopt an action plan for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and coordinate collective actions with country actions," Lu said.

He said the G20 summit will issue a strong signal on development, which will help implement the international consensus and inject a new impetus to world economic growth.

Chinese leaders steered the debate to shift the G20 from short-term crisis management to long-term perspective, according to the secretary-general. Ban said the G20 leaders need to address how to manage current global economic difficulties, adding that China has been leading by example.

Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said China is promoting priority areas and guiding principles for structural reform of G20 members, which is vital to achieving the goal of raising the G20's GDP by at least 2 percent by 2018.

The minister said on Aug 26 in Beijing that G20 financial ministers and central bank governors have reached a consensus on global cooperation.

This summit also represents an excellent opportunity for G20 leaders and others to advance the ratification process of the Paris Agreement on climate change, Ban said.

So far, 22 countries have ratified the agreement. But for it to come into force, it needs 55 countries with 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions to ratify.

President Xi Jinping has declared China's commitment to ratify the Paris Agreement on the occasion of G20.

"This is very encouraging news. I hope many countries, particularly G20 countries, will follow the suit of Chinese leadership," Ban said.

wanglinyan@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 08/30/2016 page1)