On the morning of July 8, 2021, the China International Development Cooperation Agency and the Ministry of Commerce jointly organized the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund (SSCAF) and the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD), which was held in Beijing and attended by more than 150 people including representatives of Chinese government departments, foreign diplomatic envoys in China, and representatives of international organizations in China. Hao Ping, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Peking University, Yifu Lin, Dean of the ISSCAD and Honorary Dean of the National School of Development at Peking University, Fu Jun, Academic Dean of the ISSCAD at Peking University, teachers in charge of academic and student affairs from Peking University and the ISSCAD at Peking University and representatives of many students from the ISSCAD attended the anniversary.
Dating back to September 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China would establish the SSCAF and the ISSCAD when attending the UN Sustainable Development Summit. The SSCAF provided USD 2 billion in the first phase to support developing countries in implementing the post-2015 development agenda. The ISSCAD was officially established at Peking University in April 2016. In September 2015, the first 48 master and doctoral students from 27 developing countries enrolled. After five years of development, the two pioneering efforts have continued to achieve fruitful results.
State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the 5th anniversary. He first read out a congratulatory letter from President Xi Jinping and then delivered a speech.
Mr. Wang Yi said in his speech that five years ago, during the series of summits on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, President Xi Jinping announced the establishment of the SSCAF and the ISSCAD. Over the past five years, the SSCAF has worked closely with more than 10 international organizations to implement more than 100 projects for public well-being in more than 50 countries, benefiting more than 20 million people; the ISSCAD recruited more than 200 master and doctoral students from nearly 60 countries, contributing to the training of high-end talents in national governance for many developing countries.. The SSCAF and the ISSCAD have developed into a vital public product in the cause of South-South cooperation and a significant international brand for developing countries to promote South-South cooperation and sustainable development. Today, President Xi Jinping sent a special congratulatory letter to point out the direction for the future development of the SSCAF and the ISSCAD. This once again reflects that President Xi Jinping and the Chinese government attach great importance to South-South cooperation. It will certainly encourage us to run the SSCAF and the ISSCAD better and play a greater role in promoting the South-South cooperation.
Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, sent a congratulatory letter on the anniversary, congratulating the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the SSCAF and the ISSCAD and stating that South-South cooperation was essential to promoting global sustainable development and China played a leading role in promoting sustainable development. Through the SSCAF and the ISSCAD, China helped developing countries strengthen capacity building and achieve independent development. The United Nations looked forward to working with the SSCAF and the ISSCAD to make efforts to achieve sustainable development for all humankind.
Bai Yating, the representative of the United Nations Development Programme in China, introduced on behalf of international organizations the cooperation with China in SSCAF projects.
Justin Yifu Lin, ISSCAD Dean, introduced the development of the ISSCAD. Dean Yifu Lin said that, in the past five years, the ISSCAD has enrolled nearly 200 students from nearly 60 countries; more than 160 leading talents who have deep expertise in economics theory and actively explore the development path in line with their own national conditions have returned to their countries and have achieved certain results. The ISSCAD also carried out research in the five major development areas, namely industrialization and employment, agriculture and poverty reduction, education and innovation, population health and public hygiene, and climate change and environmental protection. In the future, the ISSCAD will continue to do its utmost to make greater contributions to promoting the common development of China and other developing countries with the strong support of Peking University, National School of Development of Peking University, relevant Chinese government departments, all sectors of society, and the international community.
The heads and representatives of international organizations, such as Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Zhao Houlin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, and Li Yong, Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, who were unable to be present due to factors such as the epidemic, briefly introduced the project features and important progress of the SSCAF in the form of video.
Many student representatives of the ISSCAD from all over the world also shared their unforgettable education experience, knowledge learned in class and friendship among the classmates in the ISSCAD and their application of theories learned in combination with the actual conditions of their own countries in the form of video and wished the ISSCAD to be better and better.
The anniversary ended with the lighting ceremony for the new project. Wang Yi, together with Luo Zhaohui, Director of the China International Development Cooperation Agency, Ren Hongbin, Assistant Minister of Commerce, Maha Ahmed, Head of the Representative Office of the United Nations World Food Programme in China, and Hao Ping, President of Peking University, got up on stage to light up for the start of the newly established Anti-epidemic Projects of South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund. Under this batch of projects, the Chinese government will cooperate with the United Nations World Food Programme in providing anti-epidemic food assistance to Benin, Congo (the Republic of Congo), and Liberia, and cooperate with the United Nations Development Programme in providing anti-epidemic assistance to Pakistan.
On the same day, many media and well-known programs including People's Daily, Xinhuanet and "News Network" of China Media Group made special reports on the 5th anniversary.
