尊敬的苗部助， (Excellency Assistant Minister Mr. MIAO )

UN Resident Coordinator Sid Chatterjee,

Excellences Ambassadors,

Colleagues and friends

Good afternoon,

In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by UN member states as a universal call to action, to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.

However, with less than 6 years to go before the deadline, we face monumental challenges in realizing this global vision. The future of both humanity and our planet hangs in the balance.

The SDGs are severely off track, with not a single goal on pace to be met by 2030. Most alarmingly, progress on all of the climate and environmental targets under SDG 13 – Climate Action -  has either stagnated or is even regressing.

Here in the Asia Pacific region, at our current rate, it will take until 2062 to achieve the Global Goals.[1]

Challenges are multiple and compounding, from the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, to global conflicts, wars, and economic shocks that have led to growing inequalities and social divisions, amid an uncertain international context.

Effective global cooperation is increasingly critical to our survival, but difficult to achieve in an international atmosphere that lacks trust and is challenged by dated structures, which no longer reflect the political and economic realities of the 21st century.

It is precisely for this reason that the world will come together for the Summit of the Future: to forge a new Pact for the Future and renew international consensus on how to safeguard our world for a better tomorrow, while reinvigorating the multilateral system to tackle both existing and emerging threats to the SDGs.
 
The Summit is also a critical moment for countries to learn from one another on how to navigate a future rife with risks, but also opportunities.[2]

China can play an important role in these discussions, being one of only four countries to have moved from low human development levels in the 1990s to now high human development levels.[3]

As the largest developing economy, China has valuable experience in many aspects of sustainable development. In particular, there are three areas where I think China has the opportunity to make important contributions.

First, given the lack of progress on the environmental dimension of the SDGs and climate action, China can help to support an acceleration in momentum.

The updated Nationally Determined Contributions to be submitted by all countries by 2025 are a critical tool to raise ambitions backed by actionable plans to keep the 1.5-degree warming target of the Paris Agreement alive.

This is also an opportunity to expand climate action to incorporate commitments to biodiversity protection given the importance of intact ecosystems as carbon sinks. This will be critical for the new generation of NDCs to become comprehensive, systemic solutions – addressing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.