President Hu Jintao announced new unilateral measures at the UN on Wednesday to help other developing countries, including providing them with more aid.
He said in order to increase assistance the Chinese government has decided to apply zero tariffs to certain products from all 39 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) that have diplomatic relations with China, covering most of their China-bound exports.
Hu, who arrived in New York the day before for the summit marking the UN's 60th anniversary, delivered a statement titled "Promoting Universal Development to Achieve Common Prosperity" at the High-Level Meeting on Financing for Development.
He said China will further expand aid programs to Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) and LDCs and, through bilateral channels, write off or forgive in other ways all overdue components of interest-free and low-interest governmental loans as of the end of 2004 within two years. This will apply to HIPCs with diplomatic relations with China.
Hu said that within the next three years, China will provide US$10 billion in concessional loans and preferential export buyer's credit to developing countries to improve their infrastructure and promote cooperation between enterprises on both sides.
China will, he added, increase assistance to developing countries in the next three years, African countries in particular, by providing them with anti-malaria drugs and other medicines, and by helping them set up and improve medical facilities and training medical staff.
Specific programs will be implemented through such mechanisms as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation as well as bilateral channels, he said.
He said China will help train 30,000 personnel in various professions within the next three years so as to help developing countries speed up human resources development.
Hu said China's development is closely bound up with the development of the whole world, and the country is ready to work with others to make the 21st century truly "the century of development for all."
He also put forward proposals to implement the Millennium Development Goals and step up international cooperation on development.
(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2005)
