CPN (UML) Vice-Chairperson Bishnu Prasad Poudel, commending China’s leadership in launching the Global Development Initiative (GDI), viewed that Nepal could reap ample benefits from the initiative. Addressing the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in the Henan province of China on Thursday, Vice-Chairperson Poudel reiterated that Nepal could gain significantly from China’s GDI, which emphasized priority areas such as poverty reduction, food security, climate change, and digital development.

Stating that the priority areas of the GDI resonated strongly with Nepal’s own development priorities, Poudel shared that the government of Nepal recently decided to join the Group of Friends of the GDI. With this, Nepal becomes one of the growing number of countries that have expressed support for the GDI and its objectives, according to him. “The GDI’s core principles align with President Xi Jinping’s vision of a shared future for mankind—a vision that emphasizes peace and interconnectedness. A truly shared future can only be realized when all nations, developed and developing alike, have equitable opportunities for progress and prosperity,” the former Finance Minister asserted.

Poudel further said, “Nepal, a close neighbor of China, stands to gain significantly from the success of the GDI. We are confident that increased collaboration in areas like infrastructure development, technology transfer, and capacity building will accelerate Nepal’s national development efforts. We look forward to the GDI facilitating projects that are transformative to our economy and address Nepal’s specific development needs,” Poudel expressed.

He also spoke of the need to acknowledge and address concerns such as transparency and debt sustainability to ensure GDI’s goals of sustainable and equitable development are achieved. Furthermore, he expressed his confidence that concessional financing, knowledge sharing, and projects tailored towards the specific needs of developing countries would solidify the GDI’s purpose, besides bolstering trust and inclusiveness within the initiatives.

Stating that Nepal valued multilaterism, he reaffirmed Nepal’s commitment to contributing actively to discussions within the GDI framework and other international forums. He also said that Nepal believed that GDI could become a powerful force for building a more prosperous, peaceful, and sustainable future for the world and articulated Nepal’s eagerness to work with China and like-minded partners to further promote development agendas that are universal and beneficial to all.