Mr. Chair,

I would like to take this opportunity to share China's practice and experiences in harnessing STI for SDGs. In recent years, the Chinese government has taken STI as an important underpinning for promoting sustainable development and rolled out "China National Program for Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". The State Council, China's Cabinet, has approved the establishment of six National Innovation Demonstration Zones for Sustainable Development, which showcase the best practice of harnessing STI for promoting sustainable development and can be duplicated in other areas. China's Ministry of Science and Technology, in collaboration with Shanghai Municipal Government, has invested 3.6 billion RMB yuan in the first phase to establish a Green Technology Bank, which aims at facilitating and financing transfer of green technologies.

China has always adopted an active and open attitude to strengthen international cooperation in the field of STI for SDGs. In recent years, China has promoted a series of STI collaborative projects with UNDESA, UNDP, UNCSTD, etc. We have jointly organized three training courses with UNDESA and UNCSTD to improve the STI capacities of developing countries, which attracted more than 100 trainees respectively. In addition, we have also collaborated with the UN Office of South-South Cooperation to support the establishment of the Center for South- South Cooperation in Technology Transfer in order to facilitate technology transfer in developing countries. The Green Technology Bank is also in the process of exploring possibility of cooperation with UN Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries. We will continue such efforts to strengthen cooperation in the field of STI for SDGs.

Thank you.