Distinguished Deputy Director General Mr. Ye Jun, distinguished Vice President Mr. Gong Jinlong, ladies and gentlemen, dear participants,greetings from Vienna where the UNCITRAL Secretariat is based. It is a great pleasure for the UNCITRAL Secretariat to co-organize the International Colloquium on UNCITRAL PPP Instruments and Chinese Practice, jointly with the Ministry of Commerce of China (MOFCOM) and the University of Tianjin.

In recent years, the cooperation between UNCITRAL and the Ministry of Commerce of China has strengthened and has become more and more institutionalized. In 2022, despite the impact of the pandemic, UNCITRAL has co-organized or contributed to more than 10 events in China, resulting in numerous insightful discussions and inspiring outcomes. Against the backdrop of the post-pandemic era we are living in and the lifting of travel restrictions in China, I have every reason to expect that the collaboration between our two organizations will be further enhanced.

Today\'s colloquium is among the first of several events jointly organized by UNCITRAL and MOFCOM to kick off the year 2023. I am glad to have all of us convening here, both online and offline, in this cozy and flowery month of April, to discuss UNCITRAL\'s PPP instruments and the practices in China under the overarching theme of sustainable PPP, which of course resonates strongly with us in the United Nations.

Sustainability of PPP is rooted in UNCITRAL instruments on PPPs, namely the UNCITRAL Model Legislative Provisions on PPPs and the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on PPPs, and this is not a coincidence. During the preparation of those instruments, many states, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and experts shared their concerns over the poor preparation of PPP projects and the subsequent failure of many of those, whether at the planning or the construction phase, and even during the operation of some PPP projects.

To tackle those issues, UNCITRAL instruments on PPPs require that a sound and efficient PPP legal framework should streamline the various phases of PPP projects to ensure that they are conceived with realistic business plans and do not rely on over-optimistic assumptions or on provisions of public subsidies, whether direct or indirect ones. Sustainability is also in the DNA of UNCITRAL instruments on PPPs because it is obvious now that many of the critical infrastructure needed to fight climate change and protect the environment would need to be funded, at least partially, by the private sector.

This is the case for mass transportation systems, clean energy projects, waste and water management facilities, among others. The importance of succeeding in the planning, conception, financing, construction, and operation of those infrastructures should be a key priority for each and every state. I recall the significant contribution of China to the elaboration of UNCITRAL instruments on PPPs toward their adoption by the commission in 2019, and it was significant.

We hope that in the process of modernizing its own legal framework on PPPs, due consideration will be given to the recommendations taken in the guide and the model legislative provisions. To achieve this, further dissemination of UNCITRAL texts on PPPs that are available in the Chinese language, as many other UNCITRAL texts and official documents within the academic and legal community, is very important.

Such dissemination is a key output of this conference that follows similar events held with MOFCOM and other partnering institutions in recent years to discuss various issues linked with PPP projects in China and along the countries of the Belt and Road Initiative because it is true that the dimension of PPP projects is often more than only domestic and that sustainability is a cross-cutting issue that, thanks to the work of the United Nations, is being addressed at the global level.

Ladies and gentlemen, before I conclude my speech, I would like to bring to your attention the online training modules that UNCITRAL launched in 2021, with the generous contribution of the People\'s Republic of China. The online modules are open to everyone and free of charge. You can find access to them easily on the UNCITRAL front page of the website, with a specialized module on public procurement and public-private partnerships.

We strongly encourage all of you to participate in the modules and wish you, hope you find them interesting and beneficial. Once again, thank you very much to our colleagues and friends from the Ministry of Commerce, MOFCOM, and to Tianjin University for hosting this event. Without their hard work and their commitment, this great colloquium could hardly happen.

Thank you all.I wish this colloquium a great success.Thank you very much.