Statement by Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu at the Plenary Meeting of 72nd General Assembly on the Adoption of the Resolution on Repositioning of United Nations Development System |
2018-05-31 11:32 |
Mr. President, China aligns itself with the statement made by the representative of Egypt on behalf of G77 and China. Since the submission of the two reports on the repositioning of the UN development system by the Secretary-General, member states have worked through multiple rounds of consultations to reach consensus on the General Assembly resolution with the effective coordination of the co-facilitators and the President of the General Assembly. The resolution provides for greater respect on the part of resident coordinators for the leadership and ownership of host countries and makes it clear that program countries have the final say on the United Nations Development Assistance Framework. The composition of the UN country teams should be determined in consultation with program countries. The selection criteria of resident coordinators should be decided with inputs from member states in line with program countries' priorities and development needs. The resolution requests the resident coordinator system and country teams to be accountable to program countries. It requests an enhanced core mandate of development for the development system with poverty reduction as an important objective. It also requests the Secretary-General to report annually to the ECOSOC on the implementation of the reinvigorated resident coordinator system, including its funding. It charts out the direction and priorities for the future work in the development sector. Mr. President, Reform of the development sector is a long-term and systematic project. Adopting the resolution by the General Assembly is just the first step of the reform process. In its follow-up, we expect the UN secretariat to fully implement the mandate of the GA resolution and listen extensively to member states, particularly developing countries and fully respect the views of program countries when working out specifics for the composition of country teams, configuration and role of resident coordinators and collaboration with program countries. The hybrid funding model should reflect the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" with north-south cooperation as the main channel and south-south cooperation as a complement. In the implementation of country-specific plans, it's imperative to fully respect program countries' opinions on the mode and time of reform and reach consensus to the greatest extent possible. Mr. President, The reform outcomes should be implemented in a way to ensure program countries' full sovereignty over their development and implementation of the 2030 Agenda, as well as the respect for the development models and pathways that countries, especially developing countries choose based on their national conditions. As the largest developing country in the world, China is home to 30.46 million rural population living in poverty. China expects the UN development system, through reform, to remain focused on development as its core function and give top priority to achieving sustainable development goals such as poverty reduction. In the context of implementing the 2030 Agenda, we should deepen international development cooperation, jointly seize development opportunities and properly address development challenges to build a community with a shared future for mankind where all countries enjoy development and prosperity. China will enhance its cooperation with other member states and the Secretariat to strive for the achievement of those objectives. Thank you, Mr. President. |