Activities of the Secretary-General in China, 2-5 September
The Secretary-General arrived in Shanghai from Singapore on the night of 2 September.
On Tuesday, he spoke at the opening ceremony of a workshop on artificial intelligence (AI) capacity-building. He said that AI capacities today are concentrated in a handful of powerful companies — and even fewer countries. Meanwhile, too many countries face significant challenges in accessing AI tools.
The Secretary-General underscored that to truly harness AI’s potential, we need international cooperation and solidarity, and we must urgently bridge the AI gap for developing countries.
Without adequate guardrails, he said, AI could further worsen inequalities and digital divides and disproportionately affect the most vulnerable. (See Press Release SG/SM/22352.)
He then had a brief interview on AI with CGTN.
After the workshop, he toured the Shanghai Haipai Art Museum and then had a meeting followed by lunch with Chen Jining, the Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China.
In the afternoon, the Secretary-General visited the Shanghai Cheng Huang Temple (City God Temple) to see the Monument to the Refugees. He then had a brief walk through the Yuyuan Garden and its neighbourhood. This was followed by a round trip on the Shanghai Maglev train, which is the fastest commuter train in the world.
In the evening, the Secretary-General visited Zhangjiang Science City where he saw the latest technological innovations and he then gave an interview to the Shanghai Media Group. He then travelled to Beijing by train and arrived there that night.
On Wednesday, 4 September, the Secretary-General attended a lunch hosted by Ding Xuexiang the Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China. This was followed by a visit to the UN House where he met with the UN country team. While at the UN House, the Secretary-General also gave an interview to CGTN.
In the evening, the Secretary-General attended the welcoming banquet and gala performance for the Forum on China and Africa Cooperation Summit.
The next day, he spoke at the opening ceremony of the Forum on China and Africa Cooperation Summit. He said that many African countries are mired in debt and struggling to invest in sustainable development. Many have no access to effective debt relief, scarce resources and clearly insufficient concessional funding, he said, in a situation that is unsustainable — and a recipe for social unrest.
That is why, he said, we have proposed deep reforms to the outdated, ineffective and unfair international financial system and a Sustainable Development Goals stimulus to provide developing countries with the liquidity they need while seeking medium- and long-term solutions.
Mr. Guterres added that the China-Africa partnership can drive the renewable energy revolution and can be a catalyst for key transitions on food systems and digital connectivity. (See Press Release SG/SM22353.)
Before leaving Beijing, the Secretary-General met with President Xi Jinping. The Secretary-General recognized China’s valuable contributions to the United Nations and congratulated President Xi for the organization of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. He and President Xi discussed topics of mutual interest, including the Summit of the Future. The Secretary-General expressed his readiness to strengthen cooperation with China in all three pillars of the work of the United Nations.
The Secretary-General left Beijing in the afternoon and arrived in New York the same day.