The 21st United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) General Conference was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from November 23 to 27. Yuan Xiaoming, Assistant Minister of Commerce of China, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

Yuan stated that during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit held in Tianjin in September of this year, President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Governance Initiative, injecting strong impetus into the building of a more just and equitable global governance system. In October, the fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, reiterating China’s commitment to expanding high-standard opening up, safeguarding the multilateral trading system, sharing opportunities with the rest of the world and promoting common development. This charts the course for enhancing cooperation between China and UNIDO.

Yuan emphasized that China is ready to work with UNIDO and all parties to uphold multilateralism, jointly implement the four global initiatives proposed by President Xi Jinping, and promote the establishment and maintenance of a fair, just, open, and inclusive international economic order; remain committed to win-win cooperation and leveraging respective strengths to help other developing countries accelerate industrial development and enhance their endogenous development capacity; commit to keeping pace with the times, and tapping into the potential of cooperation in emerging fields such as renewable energy and artificial intelligence, to help other developing countries seize new opportunities in digital and green industrial development.

The conference was held under the theme of “The Power of Investment and Partnerships to Accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals.” Government delegations from UNIDO member states attended the event, engaging in discussions on industrial policies and promoting inclusive and sustainable industrial development, among other topics.