Mr. President,
I would like to congratulate the ambassador of Malaysia, H.E. Mr. Ganeson Sivagurunathan and the ambassador of the Philippines, H.E. Ms. Maria Cleofe Natividad for their excellent work as the President of G77 in the first and second half of 2020 respectively. My congratulation also goes to the ambassador of Costa Rica, H.E. Mr. Alejandro Solano Ortiz for assuming the presidency of the Group for 2021.
As the united front of the developing countries for unity and strength, the Group of 77 is an important force to improve the global governance system and a pillar to uphold multilateralism. China is the closest partner of G77 and treasures the G77+China collaboration mechanism. Particularly at the current time when we are faced with challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, China will make active contributions to fostering a new type of international relations and building the community of a shared future for mankind by continuing to expand the cooperation and coordination with G77 and uphold the common interests of the developing countries.
Over the past year, G77 has, under the guidance of Ambassador Ganeson Sivagurunathan of Malaysia and Ambassador Maria Cleofe Natividad of the Philippines, overcome the difficulties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, actively participated in the multilateral affairs in Vienna, contributed greatly to maintaining the continuity of the important work of Vienna multilateral platforms, and carried out tremendous amount of fruitful work in such fields as industrial development, peaceful uses of nuclear energy, arms control and disarmament, drug control, countering crime and fighting corruption and played an important role in safeguarding the common interests of the developing countries.
There will be many important agendas ahead of us in the new year. They include, inter alia, the International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in the 21 Century, the 65th Session of IAEA General Conference, Kyoto Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, the Special Session of the General Assembly against Corruption, the 9th Session of Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the 19th Session of the UNIDO General Conference. We, for our part, will provide full support for the work of Ambassador Alejandro Solano Ortiz of Costa Rica and we are confident that he will lead the G77 Vienna chapter to make active contributions to continuing to safeguard the interests of the developing countries in the afore-mentioned agendas.
Mr. President,
All in all, true friendship can withstand the difficult times. China is profoundly proud to be a member of the big family of developing countries. No matter whether in Vienna, or in New York, or in Geneva, or anywhere in the world, China will continue to strengthen and deepen its collaboration with G77 in joint efforts, under the current circumstances, to safeguard multilateralism, face up to the common challenges and uphold our collective interests.
In conclusion, I wish you all the best and a fruitful and productive year.
Thank you.