New York, 16 September 2002 (Translation)

Mr. President,

The high-level plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly to consider how to support the New Partnership of Africa's Development (NEPAD) is opened here in the wake of the World Summit on Sustainable Development which was held on the African continent. The meeting is once again focusing the world's attention on the issue of Africa's development. I wish to express, on behalf of the Chinese Government, our appreciation for the efforts of the United Nations which have made this Conference possible.

Mr. President,

In recent years, African countries have made positive progress in maintaining political stability, promoting economic development and accelerating the regional cooperation. Africa is now playing a greater role in international affairs. The official launching of the African Union in July marked a new historical stage of Africa's pursuit of common development and rejuvenation. However, the economic and social situation on Africa as a whole remains grim. African countries have yet to enjoy the benefits of economic globalization and the gap between Africa and the world's overall development level is still widening. This is not only a challenge to African countries, but also an issue that the international community must pay closer attention to and endeavor to address.

NEPAD is an important step taken by African countries to meet the challenges of the new century through greater unity and self-improvement. It displays to the international community the strong desire and firm resolve of the African continent to rely on its own strength, enhance international cooperation, integrate with the rest of the world and strive for common development. In July 2002, the First Summit of the African Union decided to incorporate NEPAD into its framework, thus making NEPAD an important document in the process of African development and providing an institutional guarantee for the gradual implementation of NEPAD. We support African countries in their unremitting efforts to achieve all NEPAD objectives in the light of their needs and actual conditions and to realize Africa's renaissance.

The state of peace and development in Africa has its profound and complicated historical and practical reasons and is largely due to the many unfair and unreasonable factors in the current international political and economic order. The international community, especially the developed countries, have the responsibility and obligation to adopt more active and effective measures to reform the existing international economic, trading and financial systems, so as to create a sound international environment for the economic development of African countries. The Monterrey Consensus of the International Conference on Financing for Development held in March 2002 calls in explicit terms for an increase of development funds and the elimination of extreme poverty. The just concluded World Summit on Sustainable Development has also reiterated the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities". All countries in the world have an obligation to translate the political will as expressed at the above meetings into concrete actions and turn the commitment into reality. In the process of the NEPAD's implementation, the international community, developed countries in particular, should fully respect African countries' own choice and reverse the trend of declining development assistance as soon as possible. They should work to ensure that their official development assistance account for 0.7% of their GNP, and should reduce or cancel the debts of African countries, expand and improve the market access for African countries and transfer applicable technologies to Africa. They should also help African countries to combat diseases, including HIV/AIDS in a joint effort to protect African human resources from the damaging effect of diseases.

The United Nations has an irreplaceable role in promoting African development. For many years, promotion of peace and development in Africa has always been a top priority on the UN's political and economic agenda. In 1991, the UN-NADAF was adopted and the United Nations has called for the solution to the poverty issue in Africa at many world conferences and summits thereafter. The UN has also helped Africa to develop its capacities in information and communications technologies, health and education and disease prevention, thus making its own contribution to peace and security in Africa. China supports the UN in playing a greater role in promoting the international community's support for NEPAD.

China has for long maintained a good and cooperative relationship with African countries and is following closely the progress of Africa. Strengthening cooperation with African countries for a common development is an important component of China's foreign policy. As a developing country, China has, within the context of South-South cooperation, initiated and successfully hosted the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation -- Ministerial Conference Beijing 2000 and established relevant follow-up mechanisms. We have begun to cancel 10 billion yuan worth of African countries' debts to China as we had promised. Follow-up actions in the technical and economic cooperation and many other fields are also in progress. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and NEPAD share the same objective of promoting cooperation and common development. We believe that the active implementation of Forum follow-up activities by China and Africa will be a strong boost to the process of African development and NEPAD.

I am convinced, as long as African countries realize stability, follow a development path suited to their national conditions and receive effective help from the international community, they will surely be able to overcome the difficulties and realize the grand objective of African renaissance and development in the new century. We will, as always, support reasonable demands and just propositions of African countries. We sincerely hope to see a gradual and full implementation, and continuous progress of NEPAD.

Thank you, Mr. President.