Premier pledges vigorous support for United Nations

Li stresses commitment to climate change, multilateralism, key role of UN

China will continue to support and participate in the work of the United Nations and coordinate with the international body in areas such as climate change and water resources in order to jointly address global challenges, Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday.

He made the remark when meeting with Csaba Korosi, president of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in Beijing. Korosi kicked off a four-day trip to China on Wednesday.

Noting that it is the shared aspiration of people around the world to pursue peace and development, Li reiterated China's commitment to taking a path of multilateralism and maintaining the international system with the UN at the core.

The premier stressed that China, as an upholder of and participant in the international order, has benefited from and contributed to global openness.

The country will firmly follow the path of peaceful development, stick to the fundamental national policy of reform and opening-up and provide new opportunities to the world through its development, he said.

Korosi said the UN hopes to deepen friendship and strengthen cooperation with China to jointly address the various challenges facing the world today in terms of politics, the economy, ecology, water resources and humanitarian crises, in order to achieve sustainable development and push forward reforms based on scientific decision-making.

The UN will also enhance cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to harness the power of big data and remote sensing technologies to help the world achieve sustainable development.

On Thursday, Korosi visited the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals in Beijing. The center was founded in 2021 to monitor scientific indicators for sustainable development goals including life on land and climate action.

During a meeting with senior scientists and administrators from the center and the CAS, Korosi said the center's accomplishments are encouraging, and the UN is looking forward to its participation in the midterm evaluation.

For years, a lack of timely and quality data has impeded the evaluation and progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These limitations prevent less-developed countries from making informed, scientific decisions to pursue these objectives.

But with big data and technological innovations, the center has offered new solutions to tackle these problems and facilitate the process of fulfilling the goals, Korosi added.

"You are showing us an example of how to collect, process and use data for evaluating the SDGs, and making the findings available to the world," he said.

With seven years left to fulfill the 2030 Agenda, the world would need an integrated solution supported by the strong scientific backup in the implementation and evaluation of the goals, he added.

Hou Jianguo, president of the CAS, said the academy pays sustained attention to ecological and environmental protection, climate change, disaster prevention and mitigation, water security and other global issues.

As a result, the academy has maintained extensive collaboration with UNESCO and other international organizations. In the future, it hopes to enhance cooperation with UN agencies and jointly make greater contributions to achieving the goals, he said.

Guo Huadong, director-general of the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, said the center will enhance research on the midterm evaluation of the goals on a global scale, as well as examine the relationship between different SDG indicators.

Contact the writers at zhangzhihao@chinadaily.com.cn