Mr. President,

The Chinese delegation wishes to thank the Executive Director of UN Women, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka, for her statement. Our thanks also go to the Secretariat of the Executive Board for the great deal of work it did in preparation for this session. China appreciates the fact that while actively promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment across the globe, UN Women pays great attention to the strengthening of internal evaluation and the improvement of its operational efficiencies.

Mr. President,

Next year will witness the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the formulation of the post-2015 development agenda, which offers us a new opportunity to extend globally our work in the field of women. Having perused Meta-analysis of evaluation managed by UN-Women in 2013, China wishes to make the following comments:

First, peace and development serve as the prerequisite and basis for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. Only by defusing regional tensions, removing threats of war and elevating levels of national economic and social development can a fundamental foundation be laid for ensuring women’s rights. UN Women should bring its important international influence to bear, and actively advocate dialogue and against conflict so as to spare women and children the threats of wars and unrests.

Second, it is essential to ensure the ownership of host countries and strengthen cooperation with national authorities in charge of women’s affairs. According to the report, UN Women’s field offices suffer from inadequate human resources and insufficient capacity-building. China suggests that, on the basis of respect for national conditions and actual needs of host countries, UN Women strengthen collaboration and coordination with competent national authorities, provide assistance and conduct cooperative projects with a clear target in mind and improve the efficiency in resource utilization.

Third, it is imperative to optimize organizational structures focusing on the headquarters’ capacity for strategic planning. China acknowledges the efforts by UN Women to build efficient and nimble organizational structures,which have produced positives results. At the same time, UN Women should prioritize sorting out the relationship among the headquarters, regional centres and field offices by focusing on strengthening the strategic planning capacity of the headquarters, uplifting the overall leadership capacity of regional centres, and enabling field offices to play a coordinating role vis-a-vis other UN resident agencies in the field of women.

Fourth, it is essential to strengthen internal management, explore new sources of income and reduce expenditure. On the basis of the annual evaluation reports and comments from the EB members, UN Women should take effective reform measures and improve internal management. In view of the difficult core resources situation, China supports UN Women in intensifying its fund-raising efforts and broadening fund-raising channels, including the private sector. It is necessary to align institutional operation with the real needs and streamline costs.

The Chinese government highly values UN activities in the field of women and supports UN Women in all its endeavors. China is considering the possibility of holding, together with UN Women, Beijing + 20 commemorative activities during the General Assembly in September next year, in order to garner attention of all parties to women’s development and effectively implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is an arduous task. China stands ready to maintain its sound partnership with UN Women and carry out constructive exchanges and cooperation, in a joint effort to make new progress in the global women’s cause.

Thank you, Mr. President.