Mr. President,

China welcomes this global preparatory meeting convened by ECOSOC to hear the views of member states on the theme of the annual ministerial review.

Mr. President,

With the international financial crisis still unfolding, there is little hope for fast relief of the sovereign debt crisis of some countries; the unemployment rate of major economies remains high; and the world economic recovery is fraught with uncertainties, seriously jeopardizing the realization of the MDGs. Against this backdrop, ECOSOC has designated for the annual ministerial review the highly relevant theme of “Promoting productive capacity, employment and decent work to eradicate poverty in the context of inclusive, sustainable and equitable economic growth at all levels for achieving the Millennium Development Goals”. China believes that the discussion should concentrate on the following three aspects:

First, make full employment the priority goal of socio-economic development. Governments should bear greater responsibilities in promoting employment and try their utmost to create job opportunities. In addition, social security systems must be created or improved.

Secondly, adopt proactive policies to promote employment. Special support should be given to industries with large employment capacities such as the service industry, innovative technology enterprises and small and micro enterprises. Efforts should be made to encourage people to start their own business, which in turn will create jobs; and preferential financial and tax policies are needed to improve business environment.

Thirdly, give particular attention to youth employment. Youth unemployment has now become a very acute problem with youth unemployment rate of many countries, including some major developed countries, hovering at a high level. Efforts must be made to explore ways to expand the scope of employment for the youth, especially to encourage small and medium sized enterprises to hire young workers.

Mr. President,

Over the past year, the Chinese government and people have tried through multiple channels to increase employment and created 12.21 million new jobs in towns and cities despite various difficulties. Fully aware that ensuring employment is a long and arduous task, the Chinese government will continue to pay great attention to employment, maintain the improvement of people’s lives as our top priority, and strive to enable all our people to enjoy the benefits of development. We look forward to exchanging with other members of the international community good experiences and best practices in this respect during this year’s ECOSOC annual ministerial review, thus working together to lay the ground for sustained and healthy global economic and social development.

Thank you, Mr. President.