Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, I wish to thank the Secretary-General for his comprehensive and informative report on"Towards Global Partnerships". The report has enabled us to obtain a full and objective knowledge on the cooperation between the United Nations and the relevant partners. We also appreciate the introduction by the Secretariat to the report. Meanwhile, the Chinese Delegation supports the statement by the representative of Iran on behalf of Group of 77 and China.  

With the rapid development of globalization, the gap between the North and the South is widening and the imbalance of economic development among countries is going from bad to worse. This is now an issue of great urgency in front of the international community and needs to find solution. At the same time, we see that the private sector, especially those heavyweight transnational corporations, has at its disposal enormous amounts of financial resources and technology, and is playing a considerable role in the globalizing economy. Therefore, to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all and to promote the balanced development of all economies in globalization, the relevant partners, in particular the private sector, need to give full play to their own advantages and make unique contributions to development. In this context, we support to strengthen the cooperation between the United Nations and the relevant partners, in order to encourage the partners, in particular the private sector, to take part in the activities aiming at realizing the development goals of the United Nations.

Mr. Chairman,
For the sake of effective cooperation between the United Nations and the relevant partners, including the private sector, and in order to give full play to the strengths of the partners to benefit the work of the United Nations, we believe, attention should be paid to the following in the process of establishing the partnerships.

First, cooperation between the United Nations and the relevant partners should be carried out in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations as well as the relevant United Nations rules and procedures, and without undermining the inter-governmental nature of the Organization. This constitutes the basis of the partnerships. As the Secretary-General pointed out correctly in his report, "the cooperation must be managed in a manner that does not compromise the independence and neutrality of the United Nations or its character as an organization of Member States." We fully agree with him on this point.

Second, partnerships between the United Nations and the relevant partners should be established in a manner that is helpful to the realization of development goals of the United Nations. This constitutes the overriding priority of the cooperation between the United Nations and relevant partners, in particular the private sector. We hope that the relevant partners can make full use of their own strengths and provide more substantive assistance to developing countries by mobilizing financial resources, transferring technology, investing responsibly, sharing good management experience, reducing price of drugs for HIV/AIDS treatment and making donations, so as to make concrete contributions to the realization of the development goals of the United Nations. The private sector has already made some practices in this aspect. Some businesses have rendered valuable help, in the form of donations, to the work of the United Nations in the field of development. NGOs have also played an active role in the implementation of the United Nations development programmes. We express our appreciation to those efforts. We hope that in the future, more heavy-weight and influential transnational corporations could participate in the work to realize the development goals of the United Nations and take concrete actions to help developing countries in the mobilization of financial resources and the promotion of economic growth. As the Secretary-General indicated in his report,"the resources that the relevant partners contribute, in terms of expertise, funding and technology, should be a complement to governmental resources, not a substitute."

Third, the forms of cooperation between the United Nations and the relevant partners need to be flexible and diversified, so as to adapt to different situations and achieve better results. The Secretary-General pointed out in his report,"the diversity of relationships between the United Nations and the relevant partners is such that it is not possible to adopt a'one-size-fits-all' institutional approach for dealing with all types of cooperation, at all levels of the system." We agree with this point. We believe that the United Nations should adopt different forms of cooperation with different partners, in accordance with their own characteristics. The purpose of such cooperation should be to contribute to the implementation of the development goals of the United Nations.

Fourth, besides the above-mentioned aspects, we should have a clear mind that the private sector has its own limits, which are rooted in its profit-driven nature. Therefore, the United Nations should appropriately estimates the role of the relevant partners, including the private sector. The real manifestation of their importance, in any case, lies in the substantive help they can render us, not empty slogans. We stand ready to work with all other delegations to explore specific ways and means in which the relevant partners, in particular the private sector, can make concrete contributions to the realization of the development goals of the United Nations.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.