Mr. Chair,

I thank Mr. Volkan Bozkir, President of the General Assembly, for attending the fifth committee meeting and for his intervention. I also thank Ms. Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Chef de Cabinet, for presenting the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of management reform, and thank the Chairman of the Advisory Committee for introducing the Committee’s related report. China associates itself with the statement made by Guyana on behalf of G77 and China on this agenda item, and would like to make the following comments and recommendations:

Management reform is an important buttress to the reform of the peace and security architecture and that of the development system, and is related to the functioning of the whole UN system and interests of all member states. China appreciates that the Secretariat has been implementing the General Assembly resolutions on management reform in a smooth and steady manner, showing strong resilience in the context of COVID-19. With the deepening of the reform process and the developing situation, some new issues and challenges are worthy of attention. When we review implementation of management reform, comments and recommendations of member states need to be taken into full consideration and respected.

Management reform should focus more on comprehensive budgetary performance management. China welcomes that the Secretariat are defining performance indicators in various areas, and believes that more efforts should be made to enhance comprehensive qualitative and quantitative performance indicators system. Internal control constitutes the essential part for decentralization, and should be enhanced to ensure that all decentralized exercise of authority act and operate in strict compliance with rules and regulations.

Management reform should redress the the imbalance in geographical representation, the under-representation of developing countries in particular. One member state has nearly 20 Assistant Secretary-Generals and higher level officials in the UN, and much more staff members in the UN system than any other member states. At the same time, a lot of developing countries have far less staff members than the lower limits of their geographically distributed quota. The General Assembly has expressed concerns on this matter in a lot of resolutions, and this situation is not in line with the spirit of the UN Charter.

China emphasizes that the UN procurement system needs to be transparent, open, impartial and cost-effective, based on a competitive procedure. The Secretariat should explore additional innovative ways to promote procurement from developing countries. The ratio of procurement from developing countries should be an important indicator in the supply chain performance management framework. Lessons should be learned from the COVID-19’s significant impact on the UN procurement, and the supply chain management needs to be further improved.

The role of Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) shouldn’t be affected in the context of annual budget on a trial basis. The functions of the CPC in programming and planning should be strengthened, not weakened. Mandates drive programme, programme drives budget. China hopes that this session could come up with a solution to ensure that the above established procedure and practice be followed.

The Global Service Delivery Model (GSDM) is an important component of management reform. China calls upon all parties to work on the basis of the recommendations contained in the Secretary-General’s report and the conclusions contained in the report of the Advisory Committee, to conclude consideration of this item in a timely manner and demonstrate with actions our support for the reform the Secretary-General and the cause of the UN.

Mr. Chair,

I reassure you of China's commitment to engage positively and constructively on this important agenda item, with a view to concluding our consultations in a timely and smooth manner.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.