Mr. President,

The Chinese delegation wishes to thank UNOPS for its annual report for 2012 and the draft 2014-17 strategic plan submitted under this agenda item.

My delegation welcomes the fact that in 2012, under the leadership of Executive Director Mr. Jan Mattson, UNOPS continued to focus on its operational priorities and comparative advantage in its effort to respond effectively to operational challenges. We are pleased to see that it achieved results both in management improvement and in operational activities in the last year of the current strategic plan. We have noticed with appreciation the growing trend of UNOPS’s operation in low-income countries and countries affected by conflicts, which attests to the active efforts by the Office to implement its commitment of providing support to the UN and other cooperation partners working under difficult circumstances.

Mr. President,

My delegation appreciates the large amount of work and widespread consultations carried out by UNOPS in preparing its 2014-17 strategic plan, and approves the overall framework of the proposed strategic plan. My delegation hopes that the Office would further reinforce its operational priorities and focus on the three areas of sustainable project management, sustainable infrastructure construction and sustainable procurement. We also hope that it will effectively summarize and disseminate best practices and experience, make its work more targeted so as to increase the added value of its service.

It is also our view that UNOPS should continue to strengthen service to the UN system and various organs at the headquarters and at regional and country levels. We hope that it will, as required by the resolution on quadrennial comprehensive policy review of the UN operational activities for development, make efforts to further contribute to the enhancement of the UN system-wide coordination and the advancement of the development of the developing countries.

At the same time, the UN procurement, with its characteristic large scale and wide coverage, can serve to help boost the production capacity and raise the level of service of the developing countries, thus facilitating their endeavor in poverty reduction and sustainable development. We hope that UNOPS will continue to support the developing countries in taking part in the UN procurement activities, help them improve capacity so as to participate in the UN procurement activities on equitable terms, and create conditions for the continued expansion of the portion of UN procurement from the developing countries.

Thank you, Mr. President.