2019年CRI UN chief: Belt and Road Initiative important to the world（在线收听）

The UN Secretary-General says the Belt and Road Initiative is a "very important opportunity" to the world.

Antonio Guterres made the remarks before leaving for Beijing to attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

UN Chief Antonio Guterres has told journalists at the UN headquarters that he looks forward to attending the upcoming forum, saying it will provide an opportunity to explore broader aspects of the Belt and Road Initiative.

"I'm very happy to have this opportunity to participate in the second Belt and Road Forum in China. This forum is a very important opportunity to discuss how the Belt and Road Initiative can have a stronger impact on the economies and societies of the countries that benefit and fully contribute to their development and to the implementation of sustainable development goals. At the same time, it is an opportunity to discuss how the Belt and Road Initiative can be an extremely important tool to reverse the trend in which, as I mentioned, the climate change is still running faster than what we are, we need a lot of investment in sustainable development, we need a lot of investment in renewable energy, we need a lot of investment in infrastructure that respect the future and guarantee that future is sustainable," says Antonio Guterres.

The UN Chief says the Belt and Road Initiative injects strong impetus into global development and helps promote the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda.

"I believe in this context such a very important volume of investment in international cooperation as the Belt and Road Initiative is a very important opportunity for enhancing the capacity to implement the sustainable development goals, and also an important opportunity to launch a green perspective in relation to the necessary investments that are essential in the years to come," says Antonio Guterres.

Guterres says the Belt and Road Initiative has also contributed to fair globalization.

"The development of projects that help developing countries create their infrastructure and guarantee their sustainable development is exactly the way to have a fair globalization, and a fair globalization exactly the way to have a future of shared prospect. Everything that contributes to connect different countries, everything that contributes to make trade easier, to make information sharing and knowledge sharing stronger, gives a very important contribution to fair globalization, and that is exactly what the opportunities the Belt and Road Initiative represent and that is why it is so important in this forum to discuss, or to maximize that impact of the Belt and Road Initiative," says Antonio Guterres.

The UN Chief also praised China's strong commitment to multilateralism. He says China and the UN have important and extensive cooperation in all aspects, including peace and security, combating climate change, etc.