Honourable Minister Li Bin and your team from the National Health and Family Planning Commission;
WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Moeti;
Colleagues and friends:
Good evening. I am honoured to be back in Beijing for the official launch of the WHO-China Country Cooperation Strategy for 2016-2020.
This strategy, or CCS, is especially important because it represents a new way of working together – and a new age of partnership between WHO and China.
The relationship is no longer defined only by technical assistance or assessed contributions from WHO Member States.
Our relationship with China has grown. We now work together as partners to address some of the world's biggest health challenges — such as strengthening health systems towards universal health coverage or rolling back the global NCD epidemic.
The recent Sustainable Development Goals have added even more topics to our long list of shared challenges for the future, such as healthy cities and climate change.
I am especially pleased that we are launching this CCS during the visit of my colleague Dr Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa. She is here to discuss the future of health cooperation between China and Africa.
Her visit is a testament to the importance of China’s experience and expertise in helping to address global health challenges. As always, WHO strongly supports China in their global public health efforts.
On behalf of WHO, I would like to thank everyone for their hard work on this CCS. We look forward to continued collaboration with our Chinese colleagues to improve the health and well-being of the people in China and beyond.
Thank you.