China’s Premier Li Qiang has called on his country and Europe to look for common ground and join forces to tackle climate change and global poverty.
Speaking on the final day of the New Global Financial Pact Summit in Paris, Li said: ”China is ready to be engaged in debt relief efforts in an effective, realistic and comprehensive manner in keeping with the principle of fair burden sharing.”
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Easing the debt burden on some of the world’s most vulnerable countries while finding ways to free up billions of dollars in new funds for climate finance were key objectives of the summit.
However, Li added while China would continue to take practical steps to support its fellow developing countries, it “will unequivocally reject trade protectionism and all forms of decoupling and severing of supply chains”.
During the summit, Zambia struck a deal to restructure $6.3 billion in debt owed to other governments, including China, its largest official creditor.
- Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara
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