Hello, everyone! It is a pleasure to hold a seminar on “Achievities and Prospects” on the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the China-United Nations Peace and Development Fund in the form of a video. The meeting was jointly organized by the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations and the United Nations Secretariat. The purpose of this meeting is to review the achievements and experience of the Fund in the past five years of existence and explore the future direction and focus of its work. Representatives from United Nations Member States and United Nations agencies are welcome to attend the event.
China-United Nations Peace and Development Fund is announced by His Excellency Xi Jinping, President of China, when he attended the series of activities of the 70th anniversary summit of the founding of the United Nations in 2015. It is the first time that China has supported the work of the United Nations through the establishment of a fund and built a new platform for pragmatic cooperation between China and the United Nations. Over the past five years, with the joint efforts of China and the Secretariat, the Fund has made important contributions to the cause of international peace and security and development from infland to flowering and fruit, promoting cooperation between China and the United Nations.
First, the Fund has strongly promoted multilateralism. The United Nations is the most universal, representative and authoritative intergovernmental international organization in the world today, and the most important platform to support and practice multilateralism. The Chinese government has injected $100 million into the fund in the past five years, demonstrating unswerving political determination and real and sustained investment. In close cooperation with China and the United Nations, the Fund has supported 95 projects in the field of peace and security and development on the basis of merit, benefiting more than 100 countries and regions in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania, and defending the central position and leadership role of the United Nations with practical actions and solid results.
Secondly, the Fund strongly supports the major agenda of the United Nations. The projects of the Fund are closely focused on peacekeeping, preventive diplomacy, counter-terrorism, poverty reduction, difficult migration, and the implementation of the 2030 sustainable development agenda. They have enriched the toolbox of United Nations agencies to support Member States and promoted the implementation of many major United Nations agendas. For example, the “Security of Peacekeeping Personnel Project” released a report on recommendations on enhancing the security of peacekeepers, opening a series of United Nations follow-up actions to enhance the security of peacekeepers.” The Peacekeeping Capacity Building Project trained more than 3,000 peacekeeping military and police, the MINUSMA Project trained more than 1,800 grassroots community leaders, women and youth in Mali, and the Afghan Youth Refugee Project benefited more than 2,000 refugees while promoting international cooperation in important areas.
Thirdly, the Fund has made a strong contribution to the cause of peace and security and development in Africa. China-Africa traditional friendship, China’s important priority direction of diplomacy to Africa is to promote peace and development in Africa. China – The UN Peace and Development Fund has made peace and security and development in Africa a focus area for funding.” During its implementation, the Rapid Response System Project supported 21 United Nations good offices operations, 53% of which were in Africa. The Fund also funded 10 projects directly related to peace and security in Africa, covering all subregions in Africa and promoting cooperation between the United Nations and the African Union. The fund also helps African least developed countries transform their economies, upgrade their development levels, obtain more renewable energy, and accelerate green industrialization and economic and social development.
Fourth, the fund has strongly contributed to the implementation of sustainable development goals. The sustainable development agenda 2030 is an important work of the United Nations in the field of economic development at present. China attaches great importance to this and is making unremitting efforts to implement the agenda, including deepening cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, promoting the implementation of sustainable development goals, so that more participating countries can benefit from it. Through the support of the fund, China’s fungi and grass technology has been planted in more than 100 countries, helping local women, disabled and other vulnerable groups to increase employment and improve their lives, while conserving soil, preventing sand and fixing soil, and controlling the environment. The Fund also supports country dialogues and training on the sustainable development agenda and strengthens capacity-building in developing countries through a series of projects.
Dear colleagues, friends,
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations and the fifth anniversary of the announcement of the Fund. In September this year, President Xi Jinping announced in the general debate of the 75th session of the General Assembly that the China-United Nations Peace and Development Fund will be extended for five years after the expiration of 2025. All parties highly praised this and fully affirmed and praised the China-United Nations Peace and Development Fund.
The Fund has carried out a lot of work in the past five years, but this is the first time that donors, managers, participants and beneficiaries have come together, which is of great significance. Everyone speaks freely, gives a positive evaluation to the fund, and puts forward ardent expectations, fully demonstrating their concern and love for the fund. On behalf of the Permanent Mission of China, I sincerely thank you! Thank you very much for the strong support of all departments of the Secretariat. This seminar is of great significance and fruitful, and many useful recommendations have been made. From your positive response, enlightening ideas and future-oriented expectations, we can see that everyone’s enthusiasm and care for the fund, and our future cooperation space is very broad.
When President Xi Jinping attended the general debate of the 75th session of the General Assembly, he pointed out that China will continue to be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of the international order. We will continue to firmly support the work of the Fund, continuously strengthen the central role of the United Nations in maintaining international peace and security and promoting development, and safeguard multilateralism.
There is an old Chinese saying: “The hearts of the people are together, and Mount Tai moves.” As long as we all work together and move forward hand in hand, there will be no difficulties that cannot be overcome, and there will be no cause that cannot be achieved. China is willing to work closely with the fund management team to continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of the project, strengthen the overall budget performance management, and standardize operation. China is willing to work closely with participating partners to meet challenges, especially the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, deal with the negative impact of the epidemic on the economy, support the economic recovery of participating partners, and implement the sustainable development agenda.
We will carefully study the opinions and suggestions made by the meeting and propose more and better projects to meet the needs of all participants. We will further strengthen South-South cooperation and promote information and experience sharing within the framework of the Fund. China welcomes the launch of the Achievement Report Project on the Fifth Anniversary of the Fund. We are willing to work with all parties to take this commemorative activities as an opportunity to continue to promote the stability and long-term development of the Fund and promote the Fund’s greater achievements. We are still in the infancy, but we are confident in the future of the fund. Let’s work together for the common future!
Thank you all.
