From the Roundtable on Sustainable Development

Christine Lagarde, International Monetary Fund managing director

"Everything is better with growth, and you have been leading the charge in terms of growth. Over the past 10 years, you (China) have doubled your GDP, and you have also doubled the per capita income of the Chinese people.

"It's not just your words, but it's also action. You've put the SDGs (sustainable development goals) clearly into your 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), and you've determined to actually put those into an annual action plan. This is for China, but you are also doing things for other countries."

Jim Yong Kim, World Bank president

"The Chinese presidency of the G20 supported expanding investments in infrastructure to spur growth and create jobs as well as increase mobilization of private resources. ... The country's economic growth affects the growth rate of many countries around the world. Its ambitious policies in cutting back harmful emissions will also play a major role in whether the world will keep (the rise in) global warming under 2 C.

"The World Bank's engagement with China on some of its most fundamental development issues has shown another side of China as a development innovator."

Ban Ki-moon, United Nations secretary-general

"We are a year into the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Our aim as an international community is to hit the ground running. The recent meeting of a high-level political forum on sustainable development shed light on implementation efforts around the world.

"Of the 11 G20 meetings, this was the first time the development agenda was taken as an action agenda. I appreciate the Chinese leadership and vision."

(China Daily Africa Weekly 09/23/2016 page14)