Member States Briefing on the Implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for the People's Republic of China

Excellencies,

Colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the United Nations Country Team in China, I welcome you to this Briefing on the Implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF). As you recall, I committed to host at least two briefings per year, to update all Member States on the state of our work in China and to seek their feedback and guidance on the way forward.

Over the past two years, much has been accomplished, to position the work of the UN in China and advance the implementation of the Cooperation Framework, in support of our Host Country’s national development priorities, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). I am proud of the work we have done to raise the profile of the UN in China and the strong support of the Government of China for our work.  Last year in October 2021, when we celebrated 50 years of China’s return to the UN and the 76th anniversary of the UN, we marked that occasion with a poem that saw the convergence of verses from Su Shi, a Chinese poet from the Song dynasty and W.H. Auden, an Anglo-American poet. The message was that it was time to reimagine, reinvigorate, and renew our hard work in building lasting peace and prosperity for the people of China and the world.

While geopolitical divides have heightened in recent years, directly impacting our work, I have been guided by our mandate as per relevant General Assembly resolutions, the Cooperation Framework as agreed with the Host Country, and, ultimately, the UN Charter.

At this year’s UN Day, which marked our 77th anniversary, we were honoured to have His Excellency Ambassador Mr. Ma Zhaoxu, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs for the People’s Republic of China, as the Guest of Honour. He affirmed that, “China will continue to support and facilitate UN development agencies in forming synergy with China's development priorities and bring China-UN cooperation to a new level”.

While this journey has seen challenges, I am pleased to report that we currently enjoy a strong relationship with the Host Country and a high level of access. I am grateful to His Excellency Mr. Wang Yi, the State Councilor and Foreign Minister, who has been gracious with his time to meet me and express his strong support of the UN system. We also enjoy a good relationship with the Ministry of Commerce, who signed the UNSDCF on behalf of the Government of China, and with CIDCA, a key player in China’s international development cooperation efforts. I particularly want to thank the Chairman of CIDCA, His Excellency Mr. Luo Zhaohui, who has been a solid ally of the UN system in China while demonstrating his faith in UN reforms.

But there is no point in any strong relationship if we do not leverage it to pursue the UN’s agenda. Allow me to mention concrete examples.

First and foremost, we continue to put the UN’s normative agenda at the very centre of all we do. The UNSDCF is rooted in it. The Cooperation Framework aims to operationalize this agenda through programs that address Leaving No One Behind (LNOB). Implementing the UN’s normative agenda is the responsibility of every entity working in the field. Through our efforts, we aim to build capacity in the country by bringing global lessons, evidence and standards.

In addition, the UNCT has established an LNOB Thematic Group to support the work of the Results Groups to implement the UNSDCF. The Group, as an interagency coordination mechanism, act as the strategic and technical advisory body to the UNCT on implementing the LNOB pledge, from policy development to program interventions. The Group guides our human rights-based approach to programming and ensures our work focuses on the rights and well-being of vulnerable groups in China.

Another example is our engagement with the Global Development Initiative. The UN welcomes initiative from any Member State that gives a boost to the SDGs, and since the initiative was announced in late 2021, our position has been to leverage the initiative’s potential not only as an SDGs accelerator but to avoid the risk that the priorities identified by the Initiative would be in parallel, or competition, with the 17 Goals. As guarantors and custodians of the 2030 Agenda, we have never shied away from reminding all stakeholders on the primacy of safeguarding the key pillars that underpin the SDGs, peace and security, human rights and development. Universal human rights are part and parcel of the Agenda, and are not subsumed to the achievement of economic and development rights, in line with agreed international norms and standards. To this effect, we will continue to extend our technical knowledge and expertise to the Government of China, including in the form of a joint expert-level Task Force to inform the development of the initiative. Discussions on this continue, including at the Headquarters level.

I have also leveraged access with the government to push the climate agenda. The interruption of climate talks between China and the U.S., the world’s two largest economies and CO2 emitters, could have jeopardized the chances of a successful COP27 in Egypt. I wrote to Foreign Minister Wang Yi to encourage China to re-engage with the U.S., regardless of their bilateral relationship. I made the same argument in an op-ed for CNBC International titled, “The U.S. and China should not miss a historic opportunity to save the world”, ahead of COP27. We are pleased to see that bilateral climate talks have resumed, as the climate crisis is an existential threat. Here, their leadership and joint efforts are critical.

Overall, our relationship with the Host Country and their confidence and trust in the UN system in China has been instrumental in better delivering on the UNSDCF. With higher access and visibility, we have been able to scale up our impact in the field, and support China’s development priorities, in line with our mandates and reforms of the UN development system.

Working closely with the people and Government of China, our efforts have contributed to advancing rural development, promoting quality employment opportunities and decent work, improving public services and social protection systems, reducing social inequalities, enhancing environmental protection and biodiversity conservation, and accelerating the transition to a low-carbon and circular economy, with particular focus on vulnerable groups in order to leave no one behind.

The agreement to establish the Joint Steering Committee of the UNSDCF in May was important.

The JSC is the highest governing body for the UNSDCF. For the JSC’s first year, China has requested that the composition of the Committee is limited to representatives of China and the UN. We have made requests to the Government of China to enlarge the membership. The Government has agreed to reconsider the composition of the Committee every year, and we will again ask for it to be enlarged. I invite you to contact MOFCOM directly to express your interest in being included, as to guide this work. Meanwhile, I reiterate my commitment to provide you with opportunities for engagement and steer, including in today's briefing.

My role is to serve the UN system in China as the UN Resident Coordinator to advance the development priorities of the Host Country and their alignment with the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.

However, I wish to underscore that we also engage with all Member States in Beijing to seek their guidance and support in our efforts to be a best-in-class multilateral institution.

This year we have been fortunate to work with a number of you on shared priorities, for example, on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Health with the United Kingdom; on preparations for the UN Ocean Conference with Portugal and Kenya; on Empowering Women and Girls through Entrepreneurship and STEM Education with the United Arab Emirates; on Food Security with the Czech Republic; on Maternal Health and Women’s Rights with Belgium; and more. All these opportunities are critical to our work in China, and we continue to pursue them.

Excellencies,

As reminded by the UN Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, at the recent G20 Summit, “Our world is facing the most pivotal, precarious moment in generations.”

We face unprecedented challenges: the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, conflicts, growing inflation, digital divides, rising poverty, hunger and inequalities. These unprecedented global challenges disproportionately burden developing countries and demand global solutions.

As an upper-middle-income country and the world’s second-largest economy, China has useful lessons to provide. While its’ journey towards sustainable development is not over, its leadership role among countries in the Global South and its experiences offer potential learning opportunities that should not be missed.  

There are growing opportunities for the UN to leverage China’s experience in the interest of other countries at earlier stages of development. This is why you have heard me being so keen on promoting South-South Cooperation (SSC), and the China-Africa relationship specifically. The UN is well placed to be an independent broker of this relationship, to ensure that China-Africa collaboration is demand-driven, serves national priorities and is fully aligned with agreed international norms and standards.

In this regard, it is essential to build synergy between FOCAC, the 2030 Agenda, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the national development strategies of China and countries in Africa, with a view to building a transformative China-Africa-UN partnership.

While respecting the bilateral FOCAC process, we acted on the request of the Group of African Ambassadors in Beijing for support, including through opportunities for dialogue. In response, we have organized two events, one focused on follow-up from the FOCAC summit and another on implications and prospects for the Horn of Africa toward ensuring food security. We see these events as the first in a series of targeted activities through which the UN in China provides technical assistance with the aim of achieving a strong and balanced partnership between China and Africa, one that adopts the SDGs as the blueprint for cooperation.

From a programmatic standpoint, SSC is pivotal to our work. Last year we supported over 70 countries in the Global South in accessing China’s resources, expertise, and experiences to address their needs,

including in trilateral cooperation projects, totalling more than USD 40 million. Of this, more than half went to African countries.

At the mid-point of our programme cycle, it is vital for the UN in China to take stock of our progress and chart the way forward. As the UN Resident Coordinator in China, I commit to lead through convening, connecting and catalyzing upon our role as the UN in China, to fully deliver on the UNSDCF, strengthen joint planning and programming of our Country Team, and make the UN system fit for purpose in China fully aligned to the Secretary-General’s bold reforms of the UN development system.

My hope is to make the UN in China a model of excellence, ensure we deliver as one and leave no one behind. A UN that continues to remain dynamic. A UN that all of you as Member States can call your own.

To realize this, I intend to establish a Joint SDG Fund to support the programmes and initiatives of the UN in China, as requested by the Secretary-General to every RC globally. The Fund aims to incentivize collaboration and stimulate joint planning and programming. This is not simply to respond to an HQ request but to meet the needs of the Country Team to deliver on the SDGs in a more effective, efficient, and coherent manner. The preparations for the Fund are ongoing, and we will come to seek your advice and funding support soon.

I now wish to give the floor to the Representatives of UNDP and UNFPA, to take us through further details of our work to implement the UNSDCF. I look forward to your reflections, questions and guidance after their presentation.

Thank you.