Make the Voice of China Be Widely Heard! Chairman of Xiamen Airlines Zhao Dong Attended the Council of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)
On September 20 to 23, 2024 local time, the UNGC Council and Secretary General’s Symposium was held in New York, USA. Zhao Dong, Chairman and Party Secretary of Xiamen Airlines, as the only Chinese director, attended the meeting together with 24 directors including UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, UN Assistant Secretary General, and UNGC Director General Sanda Ojiambo. They revealed China’s strategic vision and phased achievements of Chinese enterprises on topics such as “national network construction” and “China-Africa cooperation”, put forward strategic and decision-making suggestions, and made the voice of China be widely heard by the world. At the meeting, Zhao Dong introduced Xiamen Airlines’ sustainable development work to Secretary General Guterres and presented Xiamen Airlines’ latest sportswear that incorporates elements supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
At the meeting, the Council members discussed the development and governance of the national network of UNGC. Zhao Dong proposed that the development of national networks should fully combine the characteristics of each country’s conditions and play the role of a director from three aspects, namely adapting measures to local conditions, commercial operation, and win-win cooperation. By activating the operational mechanism, each country should continuously promote business towards goodness, and build a cooperative public platform to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. In addition, Zhao Dong also introduced the actual situation faced by Chinese enterprises in operation and expressed his determination as a council member to constantly enhance the linkage between Chinese enterprises and the UNGC.
“Promoting South-South cooperation through sustainable development cooperation between Chinese and African enterprises” is a key focus of the UNGC’s deployment of Chinese strategies. Around the results of the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Zhao Dong introduced and interpreted the aid model of Chinese enterprises in Africa with vivid cases, and showed the directors that over the past few decades, Chinese enterprises have driven investment with aid, and left more local talents for Africa’s future development through technical teaching, so as to achieve the results of truly and fundamentally enhancing the South-South development cooperation.
On September 23, 2024, also the New York Climate Week, the UNGC organized the Green Value CEO Roundtable Forum and invited more than 30 enterprise representatives from 8 countries all over the world to participate in dialogue and discussion on climate change issues. Zhao Dong was invited to give an opening speech. Melissa Powell, Deputy Director General of the UNGC, Narmin Jalcharova, Chief Operating Officer of Azerbaijan for the UNFCCC COP29, and others attended the meeting.