Madam Under-Secretary-General,

    The Chinese delegation thanks Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his statement and Ms. Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, for organizing this high-level conference.

    Over the past year, the world has witnessed frequent outbreak of natural disasters and continued impact of humanitarian emergencies. The natural disasters of large magnitude, such as the earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and Yushu, China as well as the floods in Pakistan, made the year of 2010 most unbearably tragic to recall. On the other hand, these disasters also brought the international community closer in solidarity to save lives and to assist the poor and weak in a lofty spirit of humanitarianism.

    China consistently supports the United Nations in playing a more important role in international humanitarian affairs. The Chinese Government appreciates the significant contributions made by CERF over the past year under the leadership of the Emergency Relief Coordinator and her predecessor. CERF has done a great deal of work to promote the UN responsiveness to humanitarian needs, nurture and enhance mutual trust between donor and recipient countries, and improve the global coordination and fundraising mechanism for humanitarian relief. The Chinese Government welcomes and also looks forward to the five-year evaluation of CERF in 2011.

    As one of the founding contributing and receiving states of CERF, China will, as always, support the work of the Fund. I wish to take this opportunity to confirm that the Chinese Government will provide a contribution of 500,000 US dollars to CERF in 2011, which is subject to approval by the National People's Congress of China.

    Thank you, Madam Under-Secretary-General.