United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday praised China for its outstanding leadership in paving the way for the promotion of environmental growth and encouraging the presence of developing countries at the upcoming G20 summit, which would be held in the city of Hangzhou from September 4-5.

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China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, said Ban spoke highly of the country for leading the way in promoting sustainable development and green growth at the G20 summit.

"I commend China for steering the G20 summit this year in such a successful way leading the G20 towards an action agenda that will come in full support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change," the secretary-general said in an interview.

Ratification

Ban said that the Chinese leadership would be adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris climate change agreement on the action agenda of the G20.

"This is the first time that the G20 leaders are gathering to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals and climate change, and how we implement them in parallel," he emphasized.

President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama are expected to announce the ratification of the Paris climate change accord by Washington and Beijing before the upcoming summit, Xinhua said.

Great opportunity

The UN chief said the summit would be a great opportunity for the G20 leaders to follow the example of China and the US by expediting the ratification process of the Paris climate change agreement.

So far, 23 countries have already ratified the agreement, but the accord needs the ratification of 55 countries that together will account for 55 percent of the gas emissions for the landmark pact to go into effect.

Ban said the UN is doubling its efforts to ensure that the climate change agreement would become legally binding among the signatories at an early date.

Gratitude

The UN chief expressed gratitude to China for taking charge of the domestic legal procedure needed for the ratification of the accord before the summit.

"That is very encouraging news. I hope that many countries, particularly those of the G20 countries, will follow the Chinese leadership," he said.

Ban also commended China's initiative to invite leaders of developing countries to take part in the summit and discuss their economic challenges.

China invited the leaders of  Laos, Senegal, Egypt, Kazakhstan, and Thailand to join in the discussion of the G20 government heads making the summit the most representative of developing nations in the history of the G20.

The 11th G20 summit is themed "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy." 

Leaders from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the European Union are expected to attend the summit.

TagsParis Climate Change Agreement, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, G20 summit, Chinese President Xi jinping, President Barack Obama, Hangzhou, china