Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, the Chinese delegation would like to thank Under Secretary-General for Field Support, Ms. Susana Malcorra, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management, Ms. Catherine Pollard, and the Controller, Mr. Jun Yamazaki, for introducing the relevant reports of the Secretary-General. We wish to also thank Under Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, Ms. Inga-Britt Ahlenius, and Vice Chairman of ACABQ, Mr. Colleen Kelapile, for introducing the respective reports of OIOS and ACABQ. The Chinese delegation associates itself with the statement made by the representative of Yemen on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Now I wish to make some observations on the cross-cutting issues concerning peacekeeping operations.

First, peacekeeping operation is one of the effective instruments at the disposal of the United Nations for the maintenance of international peace and security. We believe that peacekeeping operations should be guaranteed adequate resources and hope that in utilizing the peacekeeping resources, the Secretariat will strictly abide by the relevant rules and regulations, and increase the utilization efficiency. At present, there are 16 UN peacekeeping operations. Although the total number of the peacekeeping operations remains about the same in recent years, the total number of peacekeeping personnel has increased from over 80,000 to nearly 140,000 and the peacekeeping budget has risen sharply from $2.5 billion to almost $8.4 billion for 2010 / 2011. In order to ensure the sustainability of the UN peacekeeping operations, Member States need to carefully consider and address the dichotomy of the continuous growth in peacekeeping demands and the inadequacy in UN peacekeeping capacities.

Second, finding appropriate solutions to the cross-cutting issues concerning peacekeeping operations can help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the peacekeeping operations. Policy issues relating to finance, budget, logistics, human resources management, conduct and discipline are all cross-cutting in nature. We hope that effective measures can be taken by the Secretariat to improve budget procedure and implementation and enhance accountability of program managers. Reform measures, including those related to recruitment contractual arrangement should be taken to address the root causes of the ubiquitous problem of high vacancy in peacekeeping operations and to improve geographic representation. Efforts should be made to further improve the procurement procedure, increase procurement from developing countries and countries with economies in transition and provide more opportunities for vendors from those countries to be involved in the United Nations procurement.

Third, efforts to appropriately improve the logistics mechanism will play a large role in speeding up peacekeeping deployment. We have carefully studied the report of the Secretary-General on the global field support strategy to strengthen logistical support for peacekeeping operations. While welcoming the efforts made by the Secretariat to further improve the working procedure and to continue to explore effective logistical support methods, we are also aware of the views and questions presented by all sides with regard to the reform package. We hope that after extensively soliciting the views of Member States, the Secretariat will further enhance its internal communication and coordination and set out to carry out the reform plan on the peacekeeping logistical support in a step by step manner.

Mr. Chairman,

The peacekeeping operations of the United Nations are now facing unprecedented challenges. China will work together with all parties to improve the administrative and budgetary measures for peacekeeping operations, prevent problems in the areas of management and discipline of peacekeeping operations and ensure the efficient use of peacekeeping resources so as to strengthen the peacekeeping capacity of the United Nations and improve the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.