China to host UN high-level symposium

BEIJING, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- China will this week host a high-level symposium on the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, serving as preparation for the conference to be held in Rio de Janeiro in June next year.

The symposium, scheduled on Sept. 8-9 in Beijing, is intended to offer an opportunity for in-depth discussions among government officials, experts and UN representatives on the objectives and two themes of next year's Rio summit, Chinese Foreign Ministry official Chen Xu said on Monday.

The two topics are green economy and institutional framework for sustainable development, according to Chen, direct-general of the ministry's Department of International Organizations and Conferences.

The green economy theme focuses on sustainable development in the context of poverty eradication, and institutional framework for sustainable development will address global governance issues, he added.

The symposium is expected to draw about 200 participants, including UN Under Secretary-General Sha Zukang, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, and Zhang Ping, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, top economic planner of China.

The progress of the symposium will be summed up in a written document and handed over to the secretariat of the meeting in order to formulate concrete proposals that contribute to the preparation for the 2012 Rio conference.

The Rio summit, referred to as Rio+20, is an important global event marking the 20th anniversary of the original Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

"China supports the UN Sustainable Development Conference and will make joint efforts with relevant parties to boost comprehensive, positive and substantial results of the upcoming Rio+20," Chen said.