China calls for support for common development in Great Lakes region

The international community should help the countries in the Great Lakes region to realize common development, a Chinese envoy to the United Nations said Thursday.

"The Great Lake region is endowed with rich resources and an enormous development potential," Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN told a Security Council meeting, noting that the international community should concretely help the countries in the region to realize development and resolve conflict root causes, such as poverty.

Liu said that since the beginning of this year, the situation in eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has experienced continued improvement, with the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Eastern DRC and the Region gradually implemented.

Africa's Great Lakes sub-region has been plagued by decades of political instability and armed conflicts, porous borders and humanitarian crisis, along with tensions over natural resources and other destabilizing factors.

In February 2013, the UN-brokered accord, the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework was reached, with the aim to bring peace and stability to the eastern DRC and the region.

"At present, the Great Lake region has a good opportunity to put an end to its long-term turmoil," he said.

To help the region achieve sustainable peace, stability and development, Liu said that the international community should also stick to the common security of the region, and policy of cooperation for win-win.

"In the Great Lakes region, the international community should encourage countries concerned to resolve their differences and disputes through dialogues and consultations," he said.

The envoy said China attaches great importance to its tie with Africa and firmly supports the continent to resolve its issues through its own ways. "We will implement the Initiative on China- Africa Cooperative Partnership for Peace and Security in an in- depth manner and increase our support for the construction of collective security mechanism in Africa," he said.