China on Monday called for further progress on the reform of the United Nations by seeking the widest possible consensus through democratic consultations.

Liu Zhenmin, China's deputy permanent representative to United Nations, made the appeal while addressing a General Assembly session on UN Chief Ban Ki-moon's report on the work of the organization.

"Many positive results" have been achieved in the reform of the world body since 2005, Liu said.

"While working to carefully consolidate these gains, we should also strive for further progress by seeking the widest possible consensus through democratic consultations," Liu said. "In the next stage, the reform should focus more on the question of development in order to bring benefits to the developing countries."

Revitalization of the General Assembly and reform of the Security Council are two important elements of the reform of the United Nations, he said.

"We expect that the UN reform will further strengthen the functions of these two institutions as the main organs of the United Nations, increase efficiency and improve the division of labor and cooperation between them," he noted.

"China supports the reform of the Security Council in which we believe that priority should be given to the increase of the representation of the developing countries, African countries in particular," Liu said.

China supports the Open-Ended working group on Security Council reform to continue to play an important role and hopes that a general agreement will be reached among member states on relevant questions, he said.

Calling Human Rights Council as "one of the most important achievements of this round of UN reform," Liu said that China approves the overall work done by the council since its founding.

China supports the Human Rights Council in carrying out its work in a fair, objective and non-selective manner on the basis of mutual respect so as to promote the constructive international dialogue and cooperation in the field of human rights, Liu said.

China also supports the reform of the Secretariat with a view to improving efficiency, saving resources and strengthening accountability, he said.

"Reform should give equal attention to efficiency and fairness," Liu said. "While the authority and flexibility of the Secretary General are duly increased, care should be taken to accommodate the concerns of the developing countries so that they really feel that they do have a voice and influence on resource allocation and personnel policy."

(Xinhua News Agency October 7, 2008)