Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, please allow me to congratulate you for being elected as the Chairman of the current session. I am confident that under your outstanding leadership, our meeting will be crowned with success. I would also like to congratulate other members of the Bureau. I wish to assure you that my delegation and I myself will fully support and actively cooperate with you in your work for the successful conclusion of the meeting.

The Chinese Delegation endorses and appreciates the statement made by the representative of the State of Qatar on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on the priority theme "Improving Public Sector Effectiveness". We also value the background information and relevant recommendations on this item provided by the Secretary-General in his report.

Improving public sector effectiveness is of realistic and positive significance in enhancing social development. Here I would like to brief you about the efforts made by China in this area.

Since the introduction of reform and opening up in 1978, China has maintained a steady and high-speed economic growth rate with marked improvement in its national aggregates and people's welfare. At the same time, China has experienced the transition from planned economy to socialist market economy. To meet the needs of its social and economic development as well as reform and opening up, the Chinese Government has actively experimented and carried out reforms in public sector in the following major areas:

1.In reforming its public sector, the Chinese Government has consistently placed high priority on social effects. The efforts have been made to help public sector transform its functions, rationalize its structures, raise its effectiveness and improve its services so as to enable limited public resources to better serve all sectors of the society.

2.In order to achieve coordinated and balanced social and economic development, the Chinese Government has made continued and increasing investment in public service networks. Since 1998, 800 billion RMB long-term development bonds have been issued by the central government, which has greatly improved infrastructure and public services in such areas as education, medical care, employment, social security, energy and transportation, etc.

3.Active and prudent policies have been adopted to encourage private enterprises to enter into public service areas. Different methods have been introduced such as franchised management, public bidding and government purchase with a view to achieving a more effective public sector. Through competition and complementarity, better services will be produced so that the society and the general public will enjoy more benefits.

4.In its endeavors to improve public sector effectiveness and prevent abuse of power and corruption, the Chinese Government gives high priority to building up the legal system, strengthening legal supervision and increasing transparency of the public sector so that it will function under the supervision of law and the public opinion.

Mr. Chairman,

Improving public sector effectiveness is an important part of social development. Enhanced international cooperation in this area is of major significance and can play a key role in promoting social and economic development in different countries. We hope that our current session will provide representatives, relevant UN agencies and NGOs with an opportunity to fully voice their views, exchange experiences, and put forward useful recommendations for international cooperation, thus making valuable contributions to capacity-building of Member States in this regard.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.