President,

I thank Assistant Secretary-General Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee for her briefing. China welcomes the Secretary-General’s appointment of Mr. Mohamed El-Amine Souef as the new Special Representative for Central Africa and head of UNOCA, and looks forward to his early assumption of duties. I also take this opportunity to thank former SRSG Abdou Abarry for his contributions. China will continue to support the work of UNOCA and work together to promote peace, stability, development, and prosperity in Central Africa. I would like to share three points.

First, it is imperative to advance inclusive political processes and safeguard overall regional stability. During the reporting period, countries in the region have made positive progress in advancing the domestic political processes. The Republic of the Congo successfully held presidential elections. Gabon completed its political transition. Chad continued to advance post-transition governance system-building. And São Tomé and Príncipe has actively pushed forward electoral preparations. These efforts demonstrate the willingness and abilities of regional countries and peoples to uphold political inclusiveness and internal stability. China supports the Governments of Central African countries in continuing to heed the voices of their people, respect their will, improve their well-being, advance inclusive political dialogue and institutional development, and continuously strengthen national cohesion and governance effectiveness. China notes Cameroon’s efforts to safeguard national unity and ethnic solidarity, and supports the Cameroonian Government in resolving security challenges in its northwest and southwest through dialogue and in restoring comprehensive peace and stability as soon as possible. The international community should fully respect the sovereignty and leadership of regional countries, and support them in carrying out dialogue and consultation to advance political and peace processes, so as to maintain domestic unity and regional stability.

Second, it is imperative to strengthen counter-terrorism coordination and cooperation and safeguard overall regional security. Due to factors such as complex ethnic tensions, weak economic foundations, and spillover from neighboring conflicts, the counter-terrorism situation in Central Africa remains grim. Terrorists are still active in the Lake Chad Basin. Extremist groups such as Boko Haram continue with their attacks. These pose a serious threat to regional security. China supports strengthened coordination between UNOCA and regional organizations such as the Lake Chad Basin Commission in order to pool more resources and jointly address security challenges, including terrorism and transnational organized crime. The international community should increase technical and financial support earnestly to the multinational joint task force and help regional countries enhance their counter-terrorism and border management and control capabilities.

Third, it is imperative to enhance independent development abilities and maintain the region’s overall growth. Development holds the key to all problems, and thus must be placed at the center of the regional agenda. The region is rich in labor and natural resources, and has enormous development potential. The international community, especially developed countries, should earnestly fulfill their commitments regarding development financing, and increase investment in infrastructure, healthcare, humanitarian assistance, and other fields in Central Africa, They should support countries in the region in exploring development paths suited to the national conditions. International financial institutions and multilateral development banks should provide more long-term concessional financing for development to help regional countries better address debt and liquidity challenges and strengthen economic resilience. The pressing priority now is to jointly help the DRC and neighboring countries to respond to the Ebola outbreak and keep people safe, healthy, and secure.

President，

China and African countries have long supported each other, engaged in mutual beneficial cooperation, and shared a common future. Starting from May this year, China has implemented zero-tariff treatment for 53 African countries having diplomatic ties with China, injecting new momentum into China-Africa trade and investment cooperation and Africa’s development. China actively supports regional countries in strengthening epidemic prevention and control, and has decided to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to countries stricken by Ebola such as the DRC. We have sent a team of experts to the DRC to assist medical services there. In addition to bilateral assistance, we have provided assistance to the AU Commission, and have carried out epidemic prevention and control cooperation. We support the work of Africa’s CDC to jointly elevate the abilities of African countries to fight the epidemic. China firmly supports African countries in pursuing African-led solutions to African problems, and stands ready to work with the rest of the international community to support regional countries in embarking on a new development path featuring self-reliance and self-strengthening, and make greater contributions to the realization of lasting peace and prosperity in Central Africa.

I thank you, President.