The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in China hopes for greater collaboration between China, the UN and the rest of the world to promote multilateralism and advance the key goals of the agency's global agenda to improve healthcare, address climate change and bring peace.
Siddharth Chatterjee, who took up office as the UN Resident Coordinator in China in early 2021, was speaking in an interview with China Media Group (CMG) ahead of the Spring Festival, China's largest annual holiday which centers around the Chinese New Year and this year fell on Wednesday.
Prior to his posting in China, Chatterjee said he had already experienced the vibrant atmosphere of the traditional Chinese festival at the Chinatown in India's Calcutta, the city where he spent most of his childhood.
The 2025 Chinese New Year marks the Year of the Snake according to the 12-year cycle of animals in the Chinese zodiac, and Chatterjee said he hopes this new year can inspire greater transformation and vitality, while calling for more unity and cooperation around the globe.
Chatterjee said China, which has been a partner and strong ally of the UN for well over four decades, has made major contributions to what he called the spirit of multilateralism. He noted the country's remarkable undertaking in lifting nearly 800 million people out of absolute poverty over the last several decades, and says there is much for the rest of the world to learn from this achievement.
"Now China is sharing these experiences with other parts of the world. I'll be strongly encouraging China to do that for countries which are still struggling with poverty and hunger. And I think this again embodies the whole spirit of convergence. It embodies the whole spirit of collaboration. And it underpins the spirit of what the United Nations is all about of multilateralism," he said.
Looking ahead, Chatterjee noted that China's role is "absolutely crucial" in advancing the 17 sustainable developmental goals (SDGs) set out as part of the UN's 2030 Agenda, and believes closer China-UN collaboration is especially important in key areas including health, climate and peace.
"Today, we need much more collaboration between China, the UN and the rest of the world to look at how do we advance public health, SDG Goal No.3, which is on universal health coverage. Secondly, where I see China's role as crucial is the area of climate and the green transition. We've seen major climate challenges across the world. Look at the forest fires across Los Angeles, major floods in Europe. You see China's leadership here is being absolutely crucial. As it is, China's transition to the green economy has been rapid in fact. I've seen for myself the desert in Kubuqi in Inner Mongolia, which has been completely transformed into an agricultural landscape. The third area, it's not to understate, there are over 80 conflicts all over the world. The world needs more peace. We need the world to come together," he said.
Given the economic challenges facing the world, Chatterjee also stressed China has shown strong resilience in the face of these headwinds, and hailed the growth targets it has achieved and is aspiring to under its series of five-year plans for national economic and social development.
"At a macro level, China has shown robustness and a level of resilience. On all counts, China is doing pretty well. Its consumption and production is stabilizing. And above all that, its ambition through the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and into the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) of minimizing income inequalities, minimizing urban-rural inequalities are important steps towards making a vibrant and a robust Chinese economy with the ambition of 2035, where China wants to have 800 million people in the middle-class category, and I think that's a welcome development," he said.
UN official expects more collaboration with China in Year of Snake
