Foreign and Military Affairs

Full Text: China's Foreign Aid

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-21 17:52

VI. International Cooperation in Foreign Aid

China's foreign aid is provided mainly through bilateral channels. At the same time, China also has done its best to support and participate in aid programs initiated by organizations like the United Nations, and has actively conducted exchanges and explored practical cooperation with multilateral organizations and other countries in the field of development assistance with an open-minded attitude.

Since 2005, China has carried out exchanges in development assistance with many international multilateral organizations and countries. It has sent delegations to participate in conferences and dialogues on international development and cooperation such as the UN High-Level Meeting on Financing for Development, UN High-Level Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals, UN Development Cooperation Forum, High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, Heiligendamm Process Dialogue between G8 and the five most important emerging economies, and WTO Global Review on Aid for Trade, to strengthen its communication and exchanges with other aid providers and promote South-South cooperation.

In addition to developing bilateral aid, China gets involved in trilateral and regional cooperation with some multilateral organizations and countries in capacity building, training and infrastructure construction that give full play to the advantages of all participants. Positive results have been achieved. In 1981, China worked with the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) to implement the Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) program in China, it has trained more than 6,000 technicians for other developing countries in more than 20 years. Since 1996, China has cooperated with UNFAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) for sending Chinese agricultural experts to developing countries. By the end of 2009, China had sent more than 700 agricultural experts and technicians to Africa, the Caribbean and the Asia-Pacific area. In the field of training, China has conducted effective cooperation with multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the UN Industrial Development Organization and Singapore. Within the framework of the Greater Mekong Sub-regional cooperation, China, together with Thailand and the Asian Development Bank, raised funds to build the Laos section of the Kunming-Bangkok Highway, which was opened to traffic in March 2008. At present, China, Thailand, Laos and the Asian Development Bank are working together to build a bridge over the Mekong River for the Kunming-Bangkok Highway.

At present, the scope of international aid for development is being gradually expanded. South-South cooperation is developing rapidly, becoming an effective and beneficial supplement to South-North cooperation. Under the framework of South-South cooperation, China will work with all parties concerned to conduct complementary and fruitful trilateral and regional cooperation on the basis of respecting the needs of recipient countries and jointly promote the process of global poverty alleviation.