Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, the Chinese delegation would like to thank Secretary-General Kofi Annan for his introduction of A/60/6. Our thanks also go to Mr. Markiyan Kulyk, Chairman of the CPC and Mr. Saha, Acting Chairman of the ACABQ, for the presentation of their respective reports. The Chinese delegation associates itself with the statement made by the distinguished representative of Jamaica on behalf of G77 and China. I would like to take this opportunity to stress the following:

Firstly, The proposed program budget for the biennium 2006-2007 is the first to be submitted in conjunction with a biennial program plan under the arrangements for aligning the plan and budget periods. My delegation welcomes this proposal.

Secondly, the Chinese delegation has studied carefully the budget of the Secretary-General in detail. The level of resources proposed for the biennium 2006-2007 amounts to $3,804 million after preliminary recosting to 06-07 rates, and the budgetary implications of the outcome document adopted at the high-level plenary of 2005 and other additional requirements would likely to push the total over $4 billion. The Chinese delegation always believes that all resource appropriations must be accompanied by reasonable justifications. We hope that the Organization will proceed from existing resources; bearing in mind the principle of matching resources with actual requirements, try to rein in resource growth, improve management and the effective use of resources.

The Chinese delegation believes that a reasonable allocation of resources is extremely important. With limited resources, it is necessary to drastically reduce administrative costs, make full use of information technology and devote more resources to development so as to benefit an increasing number of countries, especially developing countries, in keeping with the spirit of the Charter. The ACABQ has put forward extremely valuable recommendations on such specific questions as budget management and resource allocation and they should be given priority attention and carefully studied by the Secretariat.

The Chinese delegation notes that while the Advisory Committee has not made any substantive cut to the overall resources proposed by the Secretary-General, its 200 page-long report does contain many concrete recommendations on management. If adopted and implemented, they will continue to help the Organization to correct serious administrative and managerial deficiencies, thus achieving savings for the United Nations.

My delegation believes that a well-reasoned and rational use of the resources provided by member states, putting an end to waste of any kind, optimizing the use of resources and realizing efficiency gain should be the common objectives the UN strives for. It is our hope that the budget and program managers will enhance communication and cooperation with each other to further improve budget management, prepare well-thought-out and practical "expected accomplishments" and "indicators of achievements" and terminate outputs once they become obsolete and ineffective, so as to ensure the effective implementation of priority programs as defined by member states.

Mr. Chairman, the 06-07 biennial program budget is an important item of this General Assembly Session. All delegations attach great importance to it. My delegation will participate in the forthcoming informal consultations on all sections of the budget in a constructively, pragmatic and responsible manner. It is also our hope that in the interest of efficiency, all States will demonstrate pragmatism and flexibility in future discussions, so as to ensure that the consideration of the budget will be marked by high quality and efficiency.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.