Lord O'Neill,

Fellow Ambassadors,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a pleasure to join you for the briefing of the AMR review final report.

Just now, Lord O'Neill and Professor Davis gave us incisive analysis of how essential and urgent it is to tackle the problem of drug-resistant infections.

As the Chinese saying goes, "While the priest climbs a foot a day, the devil climbs a mile." Men have always been making progress and achievements. Yet we are also always faced with difficulties and challenges. Making progress is a process of overcoming one hurdle after another. This is a true reflection on the journey of human civilizations.

In the field of medical science, the discovery of penicillin was a significant breakthrough that has saved innumerable lives. But the problem of resistance that followed is now growing into a new challenge.

In today's world, greater global mobility of people and improper use of antimicrobials is giving rise to faster evolution and stronger resistance of bacteria. This is posing a real and huge threat to the safety and sustainability of mankind.

Confucius has said: "He who does not plan for the future will find trouble at his doorstep." Countries around the world are now working hard to find a solution to AMR and vigorously engaging in international cooperation. The final report released today is the latest outcome of joint international efforts in this field. It will be of great value to strengthen international cooperation in responding to this global challenge.

The Chinese government takes AMR very seriously. We have put in enormous efforts into AMR research. We have also taken a string of concrete actions in line with China's national conditions. These actions include:

l Tighten control on the use of antimicrobials.

l Establish a prescription evaluation system.

l Monitor the clinical application of antimicrobials and the drug resistance cases.

These measures, supported by the information technology, are mainly designed to monitor and assess the antibiotic consumption, dose-intensity and the trend of changes.

The Chinese government is also putting in place a national-level cross-department AMR management mechanism. This mechanism will be responsible for making a national AMR action plan and participating in international cooperation.

At present, China and the UK are engaged in close exchanges and cooperation in tackling AMR. This includes policy consultations, training programs, public education, and R&D of new drugs. Through our co-established platform of Newton Fund, our two governments have jointly pledged a total of nine million pounds to support scientists from both countries to cooperate on relevant research. The first projects are now under evaluation by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Research Councils UK. China is going to host G20 summit in September. Currently China and the UK are coordinating with other member countries on expert-level with regard to how G20 would respond to tackling this global challenge.

As we say "Forewarned is forearmed".

I am confident that,

as long as countries of the world work together,

as long as we all enhance scientific research, align our policies and pledge adequate funding,

we can address this rising global challenge of AMR,

we can prevent the explosive spread of infectious diseases and, we can safeguard the health and safety of mankind.

Thank you.