A Chinese envoy on Tuesday reiterated that China has always been a reliable friend and sincere partner of developing countries, actively promoting South-South cooperation and strengthening the capacity-building of developing countries to promote development.

"As the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a widening gap between the rich and poor and in vaccine inequality, the Group of 77 and China should strengthen solidarity and create a sound environment for developing countries to accelerate post-pandemic recovery and implement the 2030 Agenda," Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, said at the Forty-Fifth Annual Meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of The Group of 77 and China held virtually on Tuesday.

The Group of 77 was established in 1964 by 77 developing countries that were signatories of the Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Developing Countries. The declaration was  issued at the end of the first session of the UN Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva. The group has since grown to 134 countries.

Zhang stressed the need to prioritize development issues.

"The Group of 77 and China should uphold the concept of people-centered development, prioritize development issues in the coordination of global macro policy, increase investment in the field of development, and solve the problems of extreme poverty, food security and economic recovery," Zhang said.

Zhang highlighted the importance of multilateralism.

"Developing countries should firmly safeguard the international system with the UN at its core, maintain an international order based on international law and oppose unilateralism, protectionism and bullying acts. Developed countries should be urged to fulfill their commitments to provide financial, technical and capacity-building support to developing countries," he said.

The envoy urged the Group of 77 and China to continue to deepen South-South cooperation, enhance political mutual trust, strengthen strategic complementarity, carry out practical cooperation in various fields and enhance capacity for independent development.

Zhang said that at the opening ceremony of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), President Xi Jinping announced that China will work with African countries in the "nine programs" that covers medical and health, poverty reduction, trade promotion and more in the next three years.

China also will provide another 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa and take a series of measures to deepen China-Africa cooperation, Zhang said.

Zhang said President Xi also proposed the Global Development Initiative at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly this year. The initiative is closely linked to the 2030 Agenda, focusing on the most pressing issues that the developing countries are facing and calling on the international community to provide more resources and assistance to developing countries in implementing the 2030 Agenda.

"China welcomes the active support and participation of the G77 member countries in this initiative," the envoy said.

During the meeting, Zhang also said he highly appreciated the Republic of Guinea for its leadership of the G77 this year and congratulated Pakistan for assuming leadership of the group for 2022.

This year's meeting adopted a Ministerial Declaration.