FOR GOVERNMENT,
FOR INCLUSION,
FOR THE FUTURE.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

Good morning! As the autumn wind soughs, the maple trees turning red is indicative of the coming of a golden season. It is a great pleasure to gather with you all at the foot of the Great Wall and by the bank of the Guishui River to participate in the opening ceremony of the 2024 National Evaluation Capacities Conference. First of all, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to all the guests on behalf of the Beijing Municipal People’s Government!

Beijing has a history of more than 3,000 years as a city and more than 870 years as a capital. It is home to eight world cultural heritage sites, including the Great Wall, Summer Palace and Central Axis. It is the world’s first and only ‘Dual Olympic City’ and a modern international metropolis that blends history, culture and innovative spirit. In recent years, based on the urban strategic positioning of Beijing as the national political centre, cultural centre, international communication centre and international science and technology innovation centre, we have deeply implemented the overall urban planning and made substantive efforts in promoting high-quality development, moving towards the goal of building a world-class harmonious and liveable city. We are very honoured that Beijing, as an international communication centre, has become the host city of the National Evaluation Capacities Conference. In the early stages of the conference, we were in contact with CIDCA and UNDP many times and have made solid progress in the preparatory work of the conference. Beijing has rich experience in providing services and guarantees for large-scale international conferences and events, and owns world-class conference venues and mature supporting facilities. We believe that with the joint efforts of all parties, the conference will be a complete success, helping countries exchange experiences, improve national evaluation systems and promote global sustainable development.

Under the theme of ‘Responsive Evaluation: For Government, For Inclusion, For the Future’, the 2024 National Evaluation Capacities Conference aims to consolidate global development consensus, promote the achievement of the United Nations SDGs through evaluation, and ensure that ‘no one is left behind’. The theme of the conference is highly consistent with the development concept of Beijing. Taking the development of the capital in the new era as the guiding principle, Beijing insists on the principle of ‘big city driving suburb areas and suburb areas serving big city’ and strives to explore a road of rural revitalization with the characteristics of the capital. We have been making substantive efforts in the project of ‘One Hundred Demonstration Villages and One Thousand Revitalization Villages’, highlighting the step-by-step progress. In the next five years, we will focus on building about 100 demonstration villages and about 1,000 improvement villages and on leading the other 2,000 villages to consolidate the achievements of beautiful rural construction and ensure that no one is left behind.

Located in the northwest of Beijing, where blue and green colours are intertwined with the urban landscape, Yanqing District is known as the ‘Summer Capital’ of Beijing. I have worked in Yanqing for more than six years and have a deep affection for this place. This place is the home to the world-famous Badaling Great Wall, the venue for the World Horticultural Exposition Beijing 2019, and one of the three major competition areas for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Yanqing is an ecological city that is suitable for tourism and rehabilitation, as well as a happy city that is suitable for living and working. It has a long history, with people living in peace, and has future-oriented industries represented by drones and new energy. I hope you can appreciate the charm of China’s thousand years of history and culture, feel the presence of Beijing as the ‘Dual Olympic City’, and experience the achievements of China’s development and construction in various fields with Yanqing as a window.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

No country should be left behind in the modernization of the world. The Third Plenary Session of the twentieth Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee has made systematic arrangements for further deepening reforms and advancing Chinese-style modernization, which will bring new impetus and new opportunities for the development of all countries. Beijing is an important window for China’s opening up to the outside world. We will take the opportunity of holding the National Evaluation Capacities Conference to work together with all parties to promote the implementation of the Global Development Initiative and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, help achieve the United Nations SDGs and make modernization benefit everyone.

Finally, I wish the conference a great success! Thank you!