Opening Remarks at the Conference on Development and Cooperation of the Maritime Silk Road in the 21st Century

在21世纪海上丝绸之路发展与合作大会上的开幕致辞

 

Christophe Bahuet, Country Director, UNDP China

联合国开发计划署驻华代表处国别主任 白桦

 

12 February 2015, Fujian

2015年2月12日，福建

 

Mr. Yao Shenhong, Director General of CICETE,

Mr. Zheng Xincong, Mayor of Quanzhou Municipal Government,

Distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen,

 

尊敬的中国国际经济技术交流中心姚申红主任，

泉州市市长郑新聪先生，

亲爱的与会嘉宾，

女士们，先生们，

 

I would first like to thank the Quanzhou Municipal Government for their hospitality and for hosting this meeting. I would also like to thank CICETE a long time and very close partner of UNDP, and its Director General Mr. Yao Shenhong for inviting UNDP to this meeting.

 

首先，我要感谢泉州市政府的热情接待与在主办这次会议过程中付出的努力。同时，我也要感谢中国国际经济技术交流中心，感谢他们一直以来与联合国开发计划署保持良好的合作，并感谢姚申红主任邀请开发署列席本次会议。

 

The “Maritime Silk Road in the 21st Century” and the “Silk Road Economic Belt” initiatives are becoming a key dimension of China’s cooperation with other countries. Together, they can bring multiple benefits to the development of participating countries and cities. They can also contribute to global development and poverty reduction. 

 

“21世纪海上丝绸之路”和“丝绸之路经济带”是新时期中国与其他国家开展合作的关键抓手。两大战略齐驱并驾，将给沿路沿带城市带来诸多发展红利，同时也将有力推动全球发展和减贫工作的进程。

 

The “One Road and One Belt” initiatives are coming at a time of change Economic globalization and integration, growing migration, trade and capital flows, and climate change are increasing the inter-dependency among States and calling for cooperation between Governments. At the same time and in complement to the State level, there are many opportunities for cooperation between provinces and cities. Urbanization, innovations development of services and new technologies give cities an increasingly important role in regional cooperation and in global development more broadly.

 

“一带一路”战略生逢全球范围内的大变革。经济全球化和一体化的趋势更加显著、流动人口不断增长、贸易和资金流日益密集、气候变化议题愈发紧迫，这些都促使各国政府间的相互依赖逐渐加深，政府间合作的必要性和紧迫性日益凸显。此外，随着城市化程度的提高和服务与新技术的创新发展，城市已经一跃成为新的发展主体，城市间的合作在区域合作和全球发展中的作用越来越大，已经成为传统的国家间合作的有益补充。

 

In that context, cities like Quanzhou in Fujian can be major players to promote international and regional cooperation thanks to their history, their economic development and their strategic geographical position as coastal cities as well as connecting points between the two roads, the land and the maritime.

 

如此一来，像泉州这样联结海陆贸易和文化往来的枢纽城市，借助丰富的历史文化积淀、经济发展水平和战略性地理位置等，必将成为新形势下的弄潮儿。

 

From a UNDP perspective, the MCSR Cities’ Alliance can contribute to a new configuration in international cooperation, one that involves directly cities from both developed and developing countries, one that open up the possibility of sharing developing experiences at municipal level, especially within the South-south cooperation framework.

 

在联合国开发计划署看来，“海陆丝绸之路城市联盟”将会催生一个新的国际合作范型，这一新的范型将吸引来自发展中国家和发达国家的城市直接参与，使城市间，尤其在南南合作框架内的发展经验分享成为可能。

 

For these reasons, UNDP has a high interest in the initiative and we are delighted to participate in this preparatory meeting.

 

也正因为如此，联合国开发计划署热忱参与这一战略的规划和实施，也很高兴能够参加到今天筹备性的会议中来。

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

女士们，先生们，

 

UNDP together with CICETE have a few years ago developed two most successful projects for the revival of the Silk Road and the development of regional cooperation. Together, UNDP and CICETE have already been working with Governments and many cities of China and neighbouring countries. We have promoted greater awareness about the regional investment potential and organized several forum at Ministerial and mayor’s level for regional dialogue and identification of potential investment projects. Through the Silk Road project, UNDP and CICETE working with other UN agencies facilitated public private sector partnerships and improved policies and legal conditions for trade, investments and tourism development. Under the Silk Road project and many others in China, UNDP and CICETE are providing training and capacity building and supporting inter-city exchanges for sustainable urbanization and environmentally friendly cities. Those issues of economic development, investments, environment, urbanization, regional cooperation UNDP and CICETE are working on are relevant for the Silk Road initiatives and will be important for the successful development of the MCSR’s cities alliance.

 

联合国开发计划署和中国国际经济技术交流中心在几年前已经共同发起过两个旨在复兴丝绸之路、促进区域经济合作的项目，取得了很大的成功。我们与中国政府、诸多城市以及许多邻国已经开始广泛合作，努力展示这一区域的投资潜力，并组织了几个旨在促进区域对话、挖掘潜在投资项目的部-市级论坛。此外，以“丝绸之路”项目为契机，我们还会同其他联合国机构，积极推进公私领域伙伴关系的建立，优化贸易、投资和旅游业发展的政策和法律环境。同时，我们也乐于在“丝绸之路”计划和中国许多其他类似发展计划的平台上提供培训和能力建设的机会，以此支持城市间的交流，使“可持续的城市化”和“环境友好城市”成为城市发展的题中之意。这些我们通力合作的、包括经济发展、投资、环境、城市化和区域合作等等在内的议题，都与“丝绸之路”战略紧密相关，对“海陆丝绸之路城市联盟”也意义非凡。

 

The UNDP Office in China therefore hopes to join hands again with cities and other partners, including UN agencies, that are part of the Alliance to support Chinese city development and cooperation between cities in China and other countries. Together with CICETE, UNDP offers expertise, an international network and program management services to facilitate the implementation of the initiative as per the Draft Charter of the alliance and the Terms of References for the Preparatory Group.     

 

因此，联合国开发计划署驻华代表处希望能与各个城市，和包括作为“联盟”一部分的其他联合国机构在内的其他合作伙伴一道，共同支持中国城市的发展， 推进其国内和国际的城市间合作。未来，联合国开发计划署愿与中国国际经济技术交流中心一起，在专业知识、国际发展网络和项目管理服务等方面推动联盟纲领性文件草案和说明性参考等一系列指导性文件的实施。

 

Thank you.  

 

谢谢大家！

 

来源：UNDP

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