Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, I would like to congratulate you on your assumption of the chairmanship. My congratulations also go to other Bureau members. I am confident that under your vigorous leadership, this session will continue to play an important role in formulating and reviewing the UN policies on public information.

The Chinese delegation also wishes to congratulate Under-Secretary-General Kiyotaka Akasaka for his recent appointment. We will, as always, continue to offer our support to the Department of Public Information and H.E. the Under-Secretary-General.

The Chinese delegation supports the statement made by Pakistan on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Now I wish to share with you the following points:

1. The role of DPI is indispensable. It shoulders the important responsibility of disseminating the UN purposes and activities to the general public in the world. If we regard the UN as a house, the DPI is its window. It is through this window that the general public gets to know the United Nations. Over the years, through conducting thematic communications campaigns, giving press conferences, receiving visitors and holding exhibitions, the DPI has shown to the world, in a comprehensive and all-dimensional manner, the UN activities in the three major areas -- development, security and human rights. It has helped reinforce UN's image and soft strength. Taking China for example, there has been a growing interest in holding publicity and promotional activities in the UN, reflecting the increasing public impact of the United Nations.

2. The Chinese delegation appreciates the reform conducted by the DPI to improve its work. In recent years, the DPI has adopted a more strategic approach to its work, focused on setting well-defined communications goals and identified target audiences. While achieving greater coherence within the UN system, it has given priority to mobilizing NGOs and other social forces in a joint endeavor to communicate the work of the United Nations. The DPI has also integrated a culture of evaluation to measure more effectively its activities. The Chinese delegation believes that reforms will lead to greater vitality and efficiency. More strategic approach to work is an important way to ensure higher DPI efficiency with limited financial resources, and is also a powerful driving force for DPI's future work.

3. I wish to point out that the Chinese delegation hopes to see improvement in the following two areas: First, in recent years, the DPI has made vigorous efforts to enhance parity among official languages and has achieved certain progress. UN Chinese radio has witnessed a rapid increase of its audience as well as visits to its website. We hope that the DPI will see to it that the Chinese radio is equipped with appropriate human resources, especially highly skilled personnel, so as to meet the needs for Chinese information on the United Nations.

Second, in order to build closer relations with NGOs, the DPI has organized in recent years many regular briefings and other communications activities. We appreciate all these efforts. However, it is a fact that not many NGOs have permanent offices in New York. We have noticed that the DPI has established links with NGOs in China and many other developing countries and is expanding cooperation with them step by step. We encourage the DPI to continue the efforts in this field to help NGOs from vast developing countries get more involved in UN affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.