Mr. President,

The Chinese delegation wishes to congratulate the new president and vice presidents of UNICEF Executive Board on their appointment. We thank the president and vice presidents for 2014 for their hard work and appreciate the statement by Executive Director Lake, his review of the work of UNICEF in 2014 and remarks on UNICEF's work in 2015. We recognize the efforts made by UNICEF in 2014 in key areas including early childhood development, basic education, gender equality, humanitarian assistance and the fight against the Ebola outbreak.

Mr. President,

2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations as well as the world's victory in the war against fascism. In the area of international development cooperation, the UN will hold a development summit at which the post-2015 development agenda will be adopted. However, the international community still faces daunting challenges as it works to eradicate hunger and poverty, push for all-round social progress, improve people's livelihood, promote inclusive economic growth and achieve sustainable development. Faced with problems such as shortages in financing, inadequate technology and insufficient capacity building, developing countries urgently need more practical and effective assistance from the international community to help them embark on the path of sustainable development.

Children and adolescents represent the hope and future of the world, and also the fragile groups which need care and protection. But their healthy development will have a significant impact on promoting the realization of sustainable development goals globally. That's why the issue of children should be adequately reflected in the post-2015 development agenda and be given priority in the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda. We hope that UNICEF will continue its work on this premise to provide strong support to countries in their efforts to realize goals such as children's survival, health, education, nutrition and protection. UNICEF should be guided by the principle of country ownership and base its work on the needs of member countries in its efforts to meet the needs and challenges faced by children in LDCs, African countries and the most vulnerable children in developing countries so that it may play a bigger role in helping developing countries achieve comprehensive and sustainable development in areas of economy, social progress and environment.

Mr. President,

The Chinese delegation appreciates the fact that under the leadership of Executive Director Lake, UNICEF encourages innovation and constantly adapts its development strategy to the growing and ever changing challenges in international development and humanitarian assistance. We recognize also the efforts UNICEF has made in implementing QCPR and the 2014-2017 strategic plan, and the transparent and inclusive approach it adopted as it developed the "Policy framework for cooperation between UNICEF and countries transitioning from middle-income to high-income categories". We hope that UNICEF will implement its universal mandate effectively, formulate and implement country programs on the basis of the national contexts and needs of specific countries, instead of adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.

Global humanitarian crises in 2014 were unprecedented in magnitude and complexity, as evidenced by a sharp increase of demands of assistance for children affected by natural disasters and conflicts. The Chinese delegation recognizes the unique role that UNICEF played in international humanitarian assistance and international development cooperation. We support raising the ceiling of UNICEF's contingency plan, extending and expanding the Vaccine Independent Initiative and its revolving fund. We hope that UNICEF will look into long-term solutions by utilizing its existing institutional strengths so that it will focus on both short-term humanitarian assistance and long-term development. Attention should therefore also be given to issues such as improving local governments' capability to provide basic services, children's basic education, gender equality, local procurement and market development so as to tackle the root causes of humanitarian crises including poverty and lack of development so that recipient countries can truly transition from the status of receiving short term humanitarian assistance to long term development.

Mr. President,

China attaches great importance to long term cooperation with UNICEF, supports children's development globally, and has recently made a pledge for the first time to the Global Vaccine Alliance in order to promote vaccine for children globally. China appreciates that UNICEF takes south-south cooperation and triangular cooperation as a focus area. With the improvement of information technology, the positive impact of south-south cooperation and triangular cooperation has transcended the concrete participants, and the scope of sharing experiences and learning from each other has become broader. Therefore, we hope that UNICEF will take an open attitude and support south-south cooperation and triangular cooperation concretely. China stands ready to deepen the bilateral relations with UNICEF, and actively explore new ways of cooperation.

Thank you. Mr. President.