Mr. President,

The Chinese delegation wishes to congratulate new President and Vice-Presidents of the Executive Board and thank the outgoing President Mr. John Ashe for his contributions. The Chinese delegation thanks Executive Director Mr. Lake for his statement and the comprehensive annual report submitted by UNICEF to ECOSOC. We would like to make the following comments.

First, China applauds the work and the efforts undertaken by UNICEF in 2012 and congratulate the progress it has made in financing, strategic partnership, national capacity building, coherence in operational activities and evaluations. Children are the future of the world. The next three years will be crucial both to attaining MDGs and improving the situation of children around the world. It is hoped that UNICEF will continue to strengthen its partnership with all countries. We hope that UNICEF will carry on an open, transparent and participatory process in formulating the 2014-2017 strategy plan, carefully implement the provisions of the resolution on QCPR of UN operational activities for development, fully respect the principle of national leadership and ownership, effectively accentuate the timeliness of the programme cooperation and, by taking its hue from the discussion on the post-2015 development agenda, maintain the forward-looking nature of the strategic plan so as to contribute to the health and development of children.

Secondly,China has been paying close attention to UNICEF's funding situation. In recent years when the global economy has been experiencing slow growth, UNICEF has managed to increase both its total income and its core resources. China congratulates UNICEF on this achievement and appreciates its fund-raising efforts. However, we are concerned by the constant decline of the share of core resources in the total resources and the slight downward trend in its earmarked funds. China hopes that UNICEF will further improve its fundraising strategy management and transparency. China calls on the international community to make joint efforts to provide more support for UNICEF's core resources. The Chinese government will also continue to support UNICEF's fund-raising efforts by practical means.

Thirdly, China supports the innovative measures taken by UNICEF in regard to its guiding principles and working methods. China commends and supports UNICEF's commitment in recent years, under the guidance of the principle of equity, to reducing disparities and promoting balanced development. We also appreciate and support its efforts to apply the results-based management model, enhance the evaluation report function, and put emphasis on actual effects. China hopes that UNICEF will continue to focus its attention on the development needs of the least developed countries and help developing countries resolve their problems of imbalanced development resulting from urban-rural and regional disparities. We would like to see that UNICEF will strengthen the participation of program implementing countries in the management of the programme evaluation and take fully into account the specific conditions and needs of different countries while formulating indicators so that they can more scientifically and effectively reflect the actual work and projects that have been implemented.

Fourthly, China encourages UNICEF to further explore and develop cooperation and partnerships. China welcomes the cooperation between UNICEF and other international organizations, such as the World Bank. China believes that to build partnership is to pool together resources and forge consensus with a view to working together to enhance developing countries' capacity for development. China proposes that while strengthening cooperation with multilateral institutions, UNICEF also strengthen bilateral and regional cooperation and adopt different and practicable modes of cooperation in light of the actual conditions of different countries. China notes that, in its annual report, UNICEF highly evaluates the results of South-South cooperation; China hopes that UNICEF will continue to support this new mode of cooperation. China is willing to join UNICEF in exploring new ways of cooperation within the framework of South-South cooperation, creating more opportunities for cooperation with other developing countries, especially the least developed countries.

Thank you, Mr. President.