UN relief chief expects strengthened co-op with China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-05 10:56

Extremely Positive China Trip

Holmes concluded a two-day visit to China on April 22, during which he lauded China's increasing engagement in humanitarian affairs, while urging more involvement on the multilateral side. He and the Chinese officials also held fruitful dialogue on global issues of common concern, including the financial crisis, the food crisis, climate change, and their implication for humanitarian needs and response.

"The trip was extremely positive," Holmes said. "I had some very good discussions with some of the key ministers and officials involved in disaster risk reduction and disaster relief in China and the China earthquake administration."

"I had a very good discussion with the vice premier about these issues," he said. "We reached an agreement that while we had already very positive cooperation in areas like disaster risk reduction and how we respond to disasters, there was also room for more and I was encouraging the Chinese government in general to engage more in a multilateral response to disasters because you have so much to offer."

"You have so much experience, and as China becomes a bigger player in the world, it's logical for China to take a bigger role in disaster relief elsewhere than just in China," he said.

On April 22, Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu met with Holmes. Hui said that China has made remarkable progress in enhancing its risk management and disaster reduction capabilities. This is a great contribution to the global humanitarian cause.

Hui said that China was one of the countries most severely affected by natural disasters. The government has exerted great effort to comprehensively improve natural disaster risk management and disaster reduction ability, always adhering to the policy of putting people first and putting life above everything.

"I think there is also a feeling that while the Chinese economy is very large and is growing, China is also a country with many internal issues to be dealt with for the future, and of course, many people whose own standard of living needs to be raised so there's not a huge amount of resources left over to be devoted internationally," Holmes said.

"But I hope that over time, as it continues to develop, which I 'm sure it will, then there will be more possibilities to help in the future as well," he said. "And that's what we were discussing and that was a very positive discussion."

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