Director General Mr. Müller, 

Executive Secretary Mr. Floyd, 

Deputy Director General Mr. LIU Hua, 

Secretary Ms. Joubin-Bret,

Dear colleagues, Ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon! 

Welcome to the Lunar New Year/Spring Festival reception.

The Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival in China and other Asian countries, and is becoming more and more popular worldwide. Following the adoption of a resolution by the UNGA listing the Lunar New Year as a UN floating holiday, just last month, the Spring Festival, social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of traditional new year, was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. China's Spring Festival belongs to the entire world!

For the Chinese people, the most important meaning of the Spring Festival is “being together”. The Spring Festival travel rush in China is the largest annual human migration in the world, with an estimated 9 billion people moving across China this year. This reflects the vitality of China's economic and social development. Returning home for the Chinese New Year and getting together with family, relatives, neighbours and friends, is an important and warm moment for the Chinese people as they usher in the new year, and a motivation to unite and pursue a happy life in the coming year.

For the United Nations, the significance of the Spring Festival is also “being together”. “Together” means unity, respect, coordination, and mutual progress, embodying multilateralism and the Vienna Spirit. We hope the Spring Festival Reception will serve as an opening ceremony for the new year's activities at the VIC. The multilateral communities in Vienna come together in a harmonious, joyful and vibrant atmosphere, looking forward to a fresh start in the new year.

With this, I would like to extend my most sincere New Year greetings to colleagues from international organizations and permanent missions in Vienna, the Chinese international staff and all the friends present here!

Dear Colleagues,

Spring is the season when everything comes to life, bringing positive energy for progress, heath and kindness. In a world filled with change and turmoil, and in the face of an unstable and unpredictable 2025, this is exactly what we need for the United Nations and multilateralism. We firmly believe that peace, development and win-win cooperation are the trends of the times, the aspiration of the people all over the world and the common pursuit of the United Nations, international organizations and the Member States.

The year of 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, a milestone of great significance for multilateralism. With only 5 years from the deadline of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, the global development agenda still faces serious challenges. The Vienna multilateral platform has unique advantages and important missions in maintaining international peace and security and promoting international development cooperation.

China has full confidence in the United Nations and the Vienna multilateral platform. The concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping are totally in line with the purposes and principles of the United Nations, meet the shared aspirations of the international community and conform to the laws of historical progress.

As the largest developing country and an important member of the Global South, China will remain a firm force for peace, unity, openness, justice, and inclusiveness. We will act as a proactive contributor to the global development agenda and a dedicated practitioner of international development cooperation, injecting more positive energy into peace and stability, development and progress.

This year is the Year of the Snake. As the agile snake dances, everything is renewed. Let's move on together in advancing true multilateralism and writing new chapters of stories about peace and development in Vienna!

May the Vienna multilateral endeavors prosper, and wish you all good health and success in the Year of the Snake!

Thank you!