Mr. President,

I'd like to begin by congratulating Ecuador on assuming the Presidency of the Council for this month. I also would like to take this opportunity to thank Council members for their strong support during China's Presidency last month.

The Council just adopted two draft resolutions, respectively on sanctions against the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab and on the management of weapons and ammunition in Somalia, for which China voted in favor. We welcome that the two resolutions, upon the requests of the Government of the Federal Republic of Somalia and some Council members, substantively lift the arms embargo on the GFRS and tighten the sanctions against Al-Shabaab. We are confident that Somalia will seize this opportunity to strengthen security capacity-building, improve the management of weapons and ammunition, actively conduct counter-terrorism operations, and inject new impetus to the maintenance of national security and stability.

It should be pointed out, however, that this resolution still requires the GFRS to submit to the Council a list of imported weapons, a measure which is  restrictive and will unnecessarily pose obstacles to the GFRS’s efforts to enhance security capacity-building and thus needs further improving and refining.

On the other hand, this resolution continues to grant special exemptions to certain western countries for arms import. Such act of double standard is neither in line with the principles of fairness and non-discrimination, nor is it conducive to upholding the authority of the Council's sanctions regime. It is our hope that the Council in its future deliberations will deal with relevant issues in a more balanced and transparent manner. 

I thank you, Mr. President.