Madam President,

I thank Executive Director, Mlambo-Ngcuka, for her opening statement. China has carefully read the report on the corporate evaluation of the regional architecture, as well as the management response. We would like to share our views on the work of UN Women, as follows:

First, as part of the UN development system, UN Women should balance well between human rights and development and, through development, promote and achieve gender equality and women's empowerment. UN Women should work actively around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a focus on supporting the efforts of developing countries to eradicate poverty among women and improve their education, employment and healthcare.

Second, the headquarters should lend more support to its field presence. This requires efforts to further improve and upgrade HQ’s internal architecture and strengthen HQ’s policy guidance for, and personnel exchange with, the field presence, to ensure better coordination between the two. The allocation of resources, including human resources, should be weighted more in favor of the field presence to help them develop their capacity.

Third, to unleash the potential of field presence to the maximum. UN Women should optimize the use of its limited resources and define the priorities of different offices at different levels in the light of local conditions, to ensure complementarity without overlapping. The offices should continue to strengthen consultation with the host countries and set their priorities based on national contexts. It is impossible for them to do everything all at the same time, so a results-oriented approach is needed to create a tangible impact.

Madam President,

UN Women is developing its Strategic Plan 2018-2021. China believes that the development of this new strategic plan requires, first and foremost, a careful review of the experience from previous planning cycles, so priorities can be set in the context of implementing the 2030 Agenda. Member States' considerations regarding the strategic plan should be fully addressed, to make sure that it not only leverages UN Women’s strengths, but also genuinely benefits Member States. It is important to spend within its means, that is, to make realistic budget plans within existing financial resources.

Thank you, Madam President.