Mr. Chairman,

The Chinese delegation wishes to thank the Secretary-General for the report he submitted under this agenda item and we support the statement delivered by the distinguished representative of Venezuela on behalf of G77 and China.  

After years of strong advocacy and unremitting efforts by the developing countries, the International Conference on Financing for Development (ICFD) was finally convened this year in Monterrey, Mexico.  At the conference, the international community came together to discuss major issues of development.  Representatives from different countries, institutions and sectors presented various initiatives and proposals.  The many agreements reached at the Conference were embodied in the Monterrey Consensus, which constitutes a good policy framework for addressing financing for development issues, and provides a platform and a bridge for dialogue and cooperation among all the relevant stakeholders.  The Monterrey Conference marks a new starting point for the process of financing for development.

The innovative approach of the ICFD was that the United Nations invited the World Bank, IMF and WTO to participate in the Conference and share with them mutual responsibilities for global development. As a result, the communication, coordination and cooperation between the United Nations and the three major economic institutions have been enhanced and policy coherence and consistency among multilateral economic institutions will be improved.  It is our hope that in the follow-up to Monterrey, policy coherence and consistency among institutions and within countries will be instrumental in helping to resolve some existing policy contradictions.  For instance, while demanding that developing countries open up their markets, developed countries have been using various ways and means to protect their own markets, especially in areas such as agricultural products and textiles, while developed countries are reluctant to increase their official development assistance, they spend six times as much on agricultural subsidies and while demanding that developing countries fight corruption, the developed countries are unwilling to cooperate with them on the repatriation of illicit funds to the countries of origin.   We look forward to an early resolution of these and other issues.  We welcome continued contributions by the World Bank, IMF, and WTO as well as non-governmental organizations and the business sector to the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus.

Mr. Chairman,

Following the ICFD, the international community has universally stressed the importance of the effective implementation of the Monterrey Consensus.  We note that the Bretton Woods Institutions have identified the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus as one of the priorities in their future work.  ECOSOC adopted, during its substantive session this year, a resolution on the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus. Non-governmental organizations and the business sector have also started to implement the various initiatives that they had proposed at Monterrey.  The pressing task at the current session of the Second Committee is to reach a consensus at an early date on the reconstitution of the high-level dialogue on international economic cooperation for development, and launch successfully the preparations for the high-level dialogue in 2003. In this connection, I would like to highlight the following observations:
1. According to the clear mandate given by the Monterrey Consensus, the reconstituted high-level dialogue should serve as the intergovernmental focal point for the general follow-up to ICFD, focusing on comprehensive review and monitoring of the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus.
2. During the preparatory process of the ICFD, the Coordinating Secretariat on Financing for Development played a significant role.  We support the relevant recommendations contained in the Secretary-General's report that in light of the successful modalities of the preparatory process, the Coordinating Secretariat should be maintained and further strengthened.
3. Relevant rules and modalities should be formulated to ensure the active participation of all relevant stakeholders such as the World Bank, IMF, WTO as well as NGOs and business sector in the high-level dialogue.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.