Photo by S. Kane
James Gustave Speth, UNDP Administrator and Madam Deng Nan after signing ceremony.

NEW YORK, 17 October 1995 -- Madam Deng Nan, daughter of China's former Deputy Premier Deng Xiaoping, will sign an agreement in the Arthur Brown Conference Room at UNDP headquarters today at 5.15pm establishing a Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) in her country. This event is a culmination of a three-year collaboration between UNDP and China and is an integral part of the implementation of China's Agenda 21. Mme Deng, the Vice-Minister of China's State Science and Technology Commission (SSTC), spearheaded the formulation of China's Agenda 21, a strategy that took over a year of intensive debate and planning by experts representing China's development sectors, academic institutions, people's organizations and the media.

"China's Agenda 21 plan is faithful to the global agenda negotiated at the Earth Summit," said James Gustave Speth, UNDP Administrator. "The plan recognizes that attainment of China's social and economic development priorities depends on greater conservation of natural resources and better protection of the national and global environment."

After the Earth Summit, UNDP started an initiative called Capacity 21 to help developing countries pursue the "Rio Principles" and build capacity to develop national Agenda 21 strategies. China was one of the first countries to follow up on the commitments it made at UNCED. Capacity 21 embraces the Sustainable Development Networking Programme.

The SDNP, launched in 1992, facilitates information exchanges among all stakeholders in a nation's drive for sustainable human development. Mme Deng was instrumental in leading the negotiations with UNDP to establish a national SDNP. Mme Deng's vision for China's Agenda 21 and the SDNP also includes:

• Facilitating access by all sectors of society, including the private sector, academia, research institutions, NGOs and special interest groups such as women and youth, to information sources worldwide which are relevant to sustainable human development;
• Broadening China's sources of funding for environmental programmes, and promoting its Agenda 21 sectorally and locally.

Mme Deng graduated from the Physics Department of Beijing University in 1970 and began working as a technician at the Hanzhong Electrical Machinery Plant of Shaanxi Province. She joined the State Science and Technology Commission in 1979 as a policy research officer. In 1988, she became Director-General of SSTC's Department of Science and Technology for Social Development. Mme Deng assumed Vice-Ministership of SSTC in 1991.