S/PV.8335 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council will now proceed to the consideration of its annual report to the General Assembly, for the period from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017. The draft report has been provided to the members of the Council. The introduction to the draft report was prepared by the delegation of China, as President of the Council in July 2017, with the participation of the other members of the Council. The body of the report was prepared by the Secretariat. I should like to express my appreciation to China and to the Secretariat for their respective contributions. I should like to point out that the draft report was prepared in accordance with the note by the President of 30 August 2017 (S/2017/507). I now give the floor to the representative of China, whose delegation was responsible for drafting the introduction to this year’s annual report.

China wishes to thank you, Sir, for convening today’s meeting. We are very honoured to submit the annual draft report of the Security Council for the year 2017, and we hope that it will be formally adopted today. I wish to take this opportunity to thank all Council members for their spirit of cooperation and flexibility during the process of drafting the report. I also wish to thank the Secretariat, and in particular the Security Council Affairs Division of the Department of Political Affairs, for sharing its rich experience and presenting invaluable suggestions during the drafting process, and for doing a huge amount of collection, collation, statistical, editorial and translation work. As President of the Council in July 2017. China is responsible for coordinating the drafting activities for the introduction of the draft report. In accordance with presidential note S/2017/507, of 30 August 2017, for the first time, the report has adopted the practice of covering a calendar year, from 1 January to 31 December, including all Council activities in the maintenance of international peace and security, managing agenda items, Council resolutions and meetings, presidential statements and other results. In summarizing the activities of the Council over the course of the past year, we have sought to be as objective as possible and have made the utmost effort to describe the background information for all Council actions in order to improve the transparency of the Council’s work. During the drafting process, we comprehensively solicited the views and comments of relevant Members of the United Nations. The draft report is a document of the Council. The introduction has been endorsed and approved by all Council members for the reporting period. Upon adoption of the draft report by the Council, it will be submitted to the General Assembly for review. In accordance with Article 24 of the Charter of the United Nations, the annual report is a key component of the work of the Council. We therefore hope that it will serve as a beneficial reference for Council members, the membership at large, the Secretariat and those committed to maintaining international peace and security.

It is my understanding that the Council is ready to proceed to the adoption of the draft annual report. May I take it that the draft report is adopted by the Council? There being no objection, it is so decided. This decision will be reflected in a note by the President of the Security Council, to be issued as document S/2018/797.