Mr. Chairman,

First of all, please allow me to congratulate you on your election as chairman of the Third Committee of the General Assembly. The Chinese delegation will cooperate fully with you and other members of the bureau in support of your work. I am convinced that under your leadership the current session of General Assembly will be crowned with success. The Chinese delegation takes note of the Secretary General’s reports submitted under this agenda item. China associates itself with the statement made by Algeria on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

Mr. Chairman,

Social development has a direct bearing on the prosperity of a nation and the well-being of its people. It is an important hallmark of human civilization and progress, and constitutes an important basis for the maintenance of international peace and security. At present, the profound impacts of the international financial crisis and Euro debt crisis are far from being eradicated, and world economic growth is facing greater instability and more uncertainties, posing unprecedented challenges to the social development of all countries. China is of the view that given the current situation, the United Nations should pay greater attention to social development. While striving for economic recovery, countries should try their best to minimize the adverse impacts of the crisis on social development. China commends the work of the UN in recent years in promoting social development, and believes that the international community should focus its future efforts in the following areas:

Stable and expanded employment is the engine for social development. As pointed out by the Secretary General in his report, creating sustainable employment is critical to mitigation of inequality, eradication of poverty, and promotion of economic growth. Countries should work hard to implement the outcome document of the 2012 ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review on employment promotion, set employment expansion as a priority goal of their economic and social development, and implement development strategies and macro economic policies that are conducive to job growth. Vigorous efforts are needed to strengthen vocational training and continuously improve workers’ overall qualifications and their productive capacity with particular attention paid to job-related guidance and service for young people.

Better protection of vulnerable groups is the key to social development. Owing to multiple crises, vulnerable groups such as women, the elderly and the disabled find themselves in a more tenuous situation, and there is an exacerbation of poverty in rural and remote areas. It is of important significance that this year, the Commission for Social Development discussed poverty eradication as the priority theme. Countries should endeavor to reduce the impact of financial crisis on education, health, social security and social relief, strengthen their capacity to respond to crisis through enabling policies, enhance poverty alleviation and development, and promote social harmony. China fully supports the convening of a GA High-level Meeting for Persons with Disabilities next year.

Greater support to the developing countries is the prerequisite for sustainable social development throughout the world. Due to their relatively weak economic foundation, developing countries are confronted with a more severe situation than developed countries in poverty reduction, employment promotion, and protection of the rights and interests of vulnerable groups. The developed countries should show political will and take concrete actions to implement in earnest their ODA commitments to the developing countries, and honor their commitments to transfer capital and technology to respond to climate change. They should effectively reduce or cancel the debt of the LDCs, avoid taking trade protectionist measures, and cooperate with developing countries so as to weather the current difficulties together.

Mr. Chairman,

The Chinese government adheres to the concept of scientific development which is people-centered and envisages a comprehensive, balanced and sustainable development. It works hard to achieve a balance between economic and social development. In responding to the crisis, it has all along emphasized employment promotion and improvement of people’s livelihood and achieved major results. In 2011, our employment promotion policies resulted in 12.21 million new jobs in cities and towns and the re-employment of 5.53 million laid-off workers. 6.318 million persons with disabilities have benefited to varying degrees from the government’s rehabilitation program. Our efforts to build health insurance networks have enabled over 1.3 billion people, namely 95% of our entire population, to be covered by health insurance. We have been continuously improving our pension insurance system which now covers over 700 million people. That makes our pension insurance system the largest in the world.

Mr. Chairman,

As the biggest developing country in the world, China tries its best to provide assistance to other developing countries. Up till the end of 2011, the Chinese government has helped recipient countries build over 2,200 projects that are closely related to local production and livelihood, canceled the debt owed by 50 heavily indebted poor countries and LDCs, and trained over 60,000 people in various fields for 173 developing countries, 13 regions and some international organizations. These efforts of ours have contributed to the economic and social development of developing countries. In the future, China will continue to work within the framework of South-South cooperation to support other developing countries in their efforts for social development and livelihood improvement.

Social justice and equality, and a society for all represent the common goal of all countries in their social development. China is willing to work with other countries in building a harmonious world of common prosperity.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.