UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations welcomes China to play a bigger role in global affairs, Miroslav Lajcak, president of the 72nd UN General Assembly, said here Wednesday.
"I welcome the fact that China's leadership is stepping up to play a leading role in the multilateral system and global affairs, he said, adding that "I laud China's emphasis on multilateralism with the United Nations at the core."
In a written interview with Xinhua, Lajcak said that China is already playing a very important role at the United Nations, with its key involvement in the adoption of the universal and transformational 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
With 30 years of diplomatic experience, the UN official said that "I have always believed strongly in the power of multilateralism - in compromise over conflict."
The General Assembly President said that having achieved impressive economic progress, China continues to increase its investments in the least developed countries, which has been appreciated by the international community.
China already occupies a significant position as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and one of the main contributors to the UN budget and financing for development, he said.
China's commitment to establish a 10-year one billion-U.S.-dollar China-UN peace and development fund has been especially helpful, he said.
"I am also heartened by China's pledge to join the new UN Peacekeeping Capability Readiness System and take the lead in setting up a permanent peacekeeping police squad and building a peacekeeping standby force of 8,000 troops," the UN official said.
On climate change, he said China was among the first countries to ratify the Paris Agreement, thus leading by example.
China's pledge to have a 3.1 billion U.S. dollars to the South-South Cooperation Fund on Climate Change was an important move for developing countries, he said.
"My most important task is to ensure that the General Assembly makes a positive difference in people's lives. That is why I wanted the theme of the 72nd session to be: "Focusing on people: striving for peace and a decent life for all on a sustainable planet," the GA president said.
Maintaining the momentum on sustainable development and climate change; promote human dignity and modernize the United Nations through revitalizing the General Assembly, reforming the Security Council and strengthening the Economic and Social Council, are also his focus, he said.
Regarding poverty, migrants, the environment, human rights and peace, he said that we need a system of global governance to address this very complex transnational issue, which is an urgent test for the United Nations.
Protecting the environment and eradicating poverty are also crucial elements that are needed for a sustainable planet, he said.
Human rights, a key pillar of the United Nations' work, need to be protected in a non-politicized manner, Lajcak said.
Preventing conflicts before they erupt should be a focus of the UN, because preventive diplomacy saves lives as well as money, he said, adding that phenomena such as climate change and terrorism knows no borders and needs to be tackled collectively.
