Mr. President,

China associates itself with the statement made by Algeria on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

Mr. President,

I would like to begin by expressing my appreciation to the co-facilitators, the permanent representatives of Kenya and Sweden, for convening the informal meeting of the General Assembly today to hear the views of the member states on the monitoring mechanisms to follow-up on all commitments related to Africa’s development needs. Since African countries make up a quarter of the United Nations membership, sustainable and common development of the world cannot be achieved without the development of Africa. The international community should increase its attention to and input into issues concerning the development of Africa, deliver its assistance commitments to support the development efforts of African governments and their people. China supports the establishment of a monitoring mechanism within the UN framework to track progress in implementing those commitments.

Over the years, with the support of the international community, African regional cooperation and integration processes have made steady progress and African socio-economic development has registered significant achievement. However, daunting tasks remain for the attainment of the MDGs in Africa. Financial crisis, food crisis, energy security, climate change and other global issues have compounded the challenges faced by African development efforts.

In the meantime, major gaps remain in the implementation of commitments to Africa by developed countries, and as a result, the development requirements of Africa cannot be met adequately. Developed countries should honor their commitment by increasing to 0.7% of their GNP for ODA which should be targeted, consistent with and help achieve the fundamental requirements of Africa in the long run. Efforts should be made to ensure the independence and ownership of recipient countries with ample policy space and to create an external economic, trade and financial environment conducive to increasing African capacity for development.

Mr. President,

Relevant UN agencies, World Bank, IMF, OECD and the G8 have established various mechanisms to monitor the implementation of commitments to Africa. China believes that during the discussion of the establishment of a UN monitoring mechanism to follow-up on all commitments related to Africa’s development needs, the current session of the GA should review the exiting mechanisms, be open to the views of all the parties, pay particular attention to the voice of Africa, respect the African perspective and accommodate the African concerns. We hope the establishment of such a mechanism will effectively mobilize the political will of various parties, encourage the international community to adopt more actions for the comprehensive and expeditious delivery of assistance commitments to Africa and generate more support to Africa in achieving the MDGs.

Thank you, Mr. President.