“It is our consistent position that the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations form the cornerstone of current international relations and provide safeguards for world peace and stability,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the 68th General Assembly high-level debate.

Respecting national sovereignty and opposing interference in internal affairs, safeguarding peace and opposing aggression, and promoting equality and opposing power politics must be observed, he added.

Underscoring the country’s stance as the second biggest economy and a permanent, veto-carrying member of the Security Council, Mr. Wang stressed that China “will firmly fulfil its due international responsibilities and obligations.”

He also called for greater representation and voice of developing countries in the global governance system to make the international order “fairer and more equitable.”

Turning to the wider global scene, the Foreign Minister said that China plans to play a “more proactive and constructive role” in addressing international and regional hotspots.

In reference to the situation in Syria, Mr. Wang called for an immediate end to hostilities and violence to create necessary conditions for the verification and destruction of chemical weapons.

“China seeks no self gains in Syria and does not take side on the Syrian issue,” he stated, but said the Government is following with “great concern” the humanitarian situation in the country and its impact on the neighbouring States.

China has supported efforts of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO) in Syria, as well as Jordan and Lebanon.

The Foreign Minister also noted China’s diplomatic role in the Iranian nuclear issue, the Korean Peninsula, and the Middle East peace efforts.

Wang is among the leaders speaking at the annual General Assembly session at which heads of State and Government and other high-level officials present issues of individual national and international relevance. The General Debate continues through 1 October.

“Greece is determined to fight and win this battle; there is no other alternative for us. And we are winning,” Samaras said in a speech addressed to Greek and Chinese businessmen, enet.gr writes.

The Premier repeated that the fears of a “Grexit” are now becoming the certainty of a “Greekovery”. “Having achieved a safe political, fiscal and financial environment, we are currently implementing innovative structural changes,” Samaras said.

The Prime Minister invited investment in the fields of shipping, tourism, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and new technologies, using Cosco’s presence in the port of Piraeus as an example of a successful Chinese investment in the country.

Samaras went on to praise the Greek and Chinese civilisation, pointing to the countries’ long history and their world-renowned philosophers. “We should not forget that Socrates and Confucius lived at the same period and are world-widely acknowledged as the fathers of philosophy,” he said.

“Confucius spoke about the path to wisdom. Plato wrote about the path to virtue,” Samaras concluded. “Let us join our forces, to establish our own common path to a very prosperous future.”

Meanwhile at a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Science Samaras said: “Chinese Culture and Greek Culture gave “meaning” to human societies, across the borders and across the ages. They both provided time-transcending ideals, principals, norms, rationality, ethics and aesthetics that enriched spirituality, beyond short-lived intellectual fashions, trivial concerns or momentary impressions.”

“Indeed, we are so different in size, location on the globe and social systems. And yet so similar in other respects: we both suffered dramatically from foreign aggression and occupation during the Second World War. Our peoples fought on the same side of the anti-fascist war and endured a lot of suffering. And this binds us together even more. Finally, we both went through periods of painful transformation after the War. And we have covered a very long way in a very short time these last decades… In a short and shallow perspective, we seem to be on different “trajectories” or in opposing “phases”. But in a broader and longer perspective, our destinies are closer than most “outsiders” can suspect.”

According to tovima.gr, Samaras is going to negotiate deals with representatives of top Chinese firms such as Cosco, China Development

Bank, the national railway and telecommunications companies. These deals involve the exchange of technical know-how in networking and infrastructures.

Speaking at the Beijing Academy of Arts, Samaras stated that “Greece is China’s natural gate to Europe” and that “I would not be here if Greece hadn’t changed its course”. The PM explained to Chinese students that the austerity measures were necessary since the debt had increased in excess and that the Greece’s main problem is unemployment. He expressed his hopes in tourism and the estimated 17 million tourists to help rejuvenate the economy.

In his speech Samaras emphasized the importance of developing long-term strategic ties between Greece and China. The two countries have a shared notion of history, noted Samaras, adding that he would like China and Greece to have a common future. He added that there was ground for collaboration in the fields of infrastructure and tourism, among others, Kathimerini informs.

While speaking on state Chinese television network, the Premier spoke of the two countries having marked history “in eons and millennia, when others count their history in decades” and highlighted the global importance of historical Greek and Chinese figures such as Confucius and Plato.

According to AMNA, Chinese companies desire involvement in Greece’s infrastructure sector, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said yesterday after talks with Antonis Samaras. The two premiers discussed all aspects of Greek-Chinese relations during their meeting, especially economic cooperation and long-range strategic plans.

Following their talks, a number of agreements and protocols were signed by the Greek side and the Chinese government.

“We are global shipping powers and we can cooperate in many areas. Since 2010 there has been heightened cooperation, while Chinese companies desire to become active in the infrastructure sectors. We will take action to boost commercial transactions, with the target of increasing the volume of transactions to EUR 8 billion in 2015,” the Chinese premier said during a dinner for the Greek mission.

Referring to geopolitical issues, Li noted that China is Greece’s ally in the Cyprus issue and asked for Athens’ help in improving China’s relations with the European Union, especially in light of Greece’s upcoming stint in the EU presidency in the first half of 2014.

He also asked Athens to reduce bureaucracy and simplify the process for issuing visas. Responding, Samaras noted that the new investment law made provision for fast-track procedures that will make Chinese investment easier, adding that the Greek government “is here to look at everything, step by step, and facilitate our cooperation.”

Specifically, they discussed expanding the activity of the Chinese container company Cosco at the main port of Greece, Piraeus, and the possibility of Chinese investment in Greek railroads and regional airports and ports.

He arrived in Beijing where today he will speak at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In the afternoon he will meet with the prime minister of the People’s Republic of China Li Keqiang.

According to AMNA, tomorrow, May 17, Samaras will talk at the Hellenic-Chinese Business Forum and the same day he will meet with the chairman of the National People’s Congress of China Zhang Dejiang and president of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping.

Saturday, May 18, the Greek PM will travel to Changzhou city, where he will meet the governor of the region and will speak at the World Cultural Forum, and will then go to Shanghai to meet with the mayor of the city and will speak at a business forum.

Samaras will meet with government officials and chief Chinese business groups and will be accompanied by a group of Greek businessmen who want to exploit the political climate to close business deals.

From the government side, he will be accompanied by the ministers of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos, of Development Kostis Hadjidakis, of Shipping Kostis Mousouroulis, Tourism Olga Kefalogiannis, deputy Development minister Notis Mitarakis and his advisors Chrisanthos Lazaridis and Stavros Papastavrou.

On Sunday, May 19, he will make a working visit to Baku, Azerbaijan, concerning the prospect of energy cooperation between the two countries.

The list of businessmen who will accompany PM Antonis Samaras in China contains 73 names. During the stay of the mission there will be two business forums, one in Shanghai and one in Beijing.

According to media reports, the seismic event, measuring from 6.6 to 7 on the Richter scale, killed nearly 200 people, sent over 8,000 to hospitals and caused a severe shortage of drinking water.

“The Secretary-General extends his sincere condolences to the Chinese Government and people,”  Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.

“He expresses his deepest sympathies in particular to those who have lost loved ones or been otherwise affected by this disaster,” he added.

At least 63 people have been infected by the virus also known as H7N9.

WHO says more than 1,000 people who have been in contact with the confirmed cases are being closely monitored, although there has been no confirmation that the virus was spreading from one person to another.

The source of the virus remains unknown although some birds including chickens have tested positive for the virus.

An international team of scientists is expected in China later this week to assess the situation and advise on the way forward.

Glenn Thomas is a spokesperson for WHO.

“China has invited a team of international experts to carry out a one week joint assessment of the H7N9 situation in the country. The team will assess the outbreak and response to guide further prevention and control measures. Members include Chinese experts on epidemiology, laboratory tests and clinical treatment as well as experts and officials from the US, the EU, Australia and WHO.”

WHO says until the source of infection has been identified, it is expected that there will be further cases of human infection with the virus in China.

The UN health agency is currently not recommending that any travel or trade restrictions be applied to China.

Patrick Maigua, United Nations Radio Geneva.

2012 saw the resumption of executions in several countries that had not used the death penalty in some time, notably India, Japan, Pakistan and Gambia, as well as an alarming escalation in executions in Iraq.

But the use of the death penalty continues to be restricted to an isolated group of countries, and progress towards its abolition was seen in all regions of the world.

Only 21 of the world’s countries were recorded as having carried out executions in 2012 – the same number as in 2011, but down from 28 countries a decade earlier in 2003.

In 2012, at least 682 executions were known to have been carried out worldwide, two more than in 2011. At least 1,722 newly imposed death sentences in 58 countries could be confirmed, compared to 1,923 in 63 countries the year before.

But these figures do not include the thousands of executions that Amnesty International believes were carried out in China, where the numbers are kept secret.

“The regression we saw in some countries this year was disappointing, but it does not reverse the worldwide trend against using the death penalty. In many parts of the world, executions are becoming a thing of the past,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“Only one in 10 countries in the world carries out executions. Their leaders should ask themselves why they are still applying a cruel and inhumane punishment that the rest of the world is leaving behind.”

The top five executing countries in the world were once again China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and USA, with Yemen closely behind.

Methods of executions in 2012 included hanging, beheading, firing squad and lethal injection. In Saudi Arabia, the body of one man executed through beheading was displayed in what is known as “crucifixion”.

People faced the death penalty for a range of crimes including non-violent drug-related and economic offences, but also for “apostasy”, “blasphemy”, and “adultery” – acts that should not be considered crimes at all.

According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the volume of international trips by Chinese travellers has grown from 10 million in 2000 to 83 million in 2012. Their expenditure abroad has also climbed rapidly, increasing by 40 per cent from 2011 to 2012.

In addition to urbanization and rising incomes, other factors such as the relaxation of restrictions on foreign travel and an appreciating Chinese currency have contributed to this boom in tourism.

“With this sustained growth, China has become the largest spender in international tourism globally in 2012,” UNWTO said in a news release.

In 2005 China ranked seventh in international tourism expenditure, and has since successively overtaken Italy, Japan, France and the United Kingdom. With last year’s surge, China leaped to first place, surpassing the top spender, Germany, and the United States. Both of these counties spent close to $84 billion in 2012.

Other emerging markets have also increased their share of world tourism spending over the past decade. Russia saw an increase of 32 per cent in 2012, spending $43 billion, which brought it from seventh to fifth place in the international tourism spending rankings.

“Emerging economies continue to lead growth in tourism demand,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. “The impressive growth of tourism expenditure from China and Russia reflects the entry into the tourism market of a growing middle class from these countries, which will surely continue to change the map of world tourism.”

Brazil also experienced a significant increase, which allowed it to move from the 29th position in 2005 to the 12th position in 2012.

Countries which have traditionally ranked high in tourism expenditure also experienced growth albeit at a slower pace than emerging economies. Spending on travel abroad from Germany and the US grew by 6 per cent each, while UK spending grew by 4 per cent allowing the country to retain its fourth place in the list of major source markets.

Expenditure by Canada grew by 7 per cent, while both Australia and Japan grew by 3 per cent. France and Italy were the only countries in the top ten to record a decline in international tourism spending of -6 per cent and -1 per cent, respectively.

“You are not here to initiate new negotiations. You are here to strengthen and conclude the work that has been done in earnest since the beginning of the ATT process in 2006,” Mr. Ban told representatives from 193 Member States in his opening remarks to the conference in New York.

He added that now is the time for the focus and political will to negotiate the final details and arrive at a consensus outcome during the nine-day conference. “That is the clear message of the General Assembly when it decided that this is the Final United Nations Conference on the ATT.”

The last negotiations on the ATT ended in July of last year without agreement. Disappointed, Mr. Ban described it as a “setback” but also noted that States had reached considerable common ground that can be built on.

In today’s speech, Mr. Ban noted that international standards regulate everything from t-shirts to toys and tomatoes, and he questioned why “there are common standards for the global trade in armchairs but not the global trade in arms.”

An effective and strong ATT will put on notice warlords, pirates, human rights abusers, organized criminals, terrorists and gun runners, Mr. Ban said, and require exporting countries to assess the risk that weapons will be used to commit grave violations of international humanitarian law or even fuel conflict.

Armed violence, he noted, kills more than half a million people each year, including 66,000 women and girls.

In addition, between 2000 and 2010, almost 800 humanitarian workers were killed in armed attacks and another 689 injured, according to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs.

“We owe this landmark UN treaty to those who have fallen victim to armed conflict and violence, to all the children deprived of a better future, and to all those risking their lives to build peace and make this a better world,” Mr. Ban said.

Some 2,000 representatives of Governments, international and regional organizations and civil society have gathered at UN Headquarters to take part in the negotiations and related events.

The process is overseen by Ambassador Peter Woolcott of Australia who took over today as president of the conference.

“My door will always be open,” he told participants during his opening statement, adding that by “working together we can make the Arms Trade Treaty a reality.”

Mr. Woolcott urged participants to focus and to reach a consensus, reminding them that “expectations are high and time is limited.”

According to the conference’s website, the proposed treaty will not interfere with the domestic arms trade and the way a country regulates civilian possession; ban, or prohibit the export of, any type of weapons; impair States’ legitimate right to self-defence; or lower arms regulation standards in countries where these are already at a high level.

An arms trade treaty will, it pointed out, “aim to create a level playing field for international arms transfers by requiring all States to abide by a set of standards for transfer controls, which will ultimately benefit the safety and security of people everywhere in the world.”

The negotiations from 18-28 March are an opportunity for states to agree rules to end irresponsible arms transfers across borders that fuel grave abuses of human rights. This is an acid test for states to demonstrate their commitment to human rights and humanitarian law.

“Syria, Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sri Lanka are just a few recent examples where the world bore witness to the horrific human cost of a reckless global arms trade steeped in secrecy,” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“It shouldn’t take millions more dying and lives destroyed before leaders show some backbone and take action to adopt global standards to effectively control international arms transfers. They have this historic opportunity to save lives – they need to seize it and stop arms from fuelling atrocities.”

The nine-day ATT conference at the UN follows on from last July when UN negotiations ended without an agreement due to delaying tactics by a handful of states opposed to its goals. In particular, the USA was reluctant to do a deal before the presidential elections. But last November, 157 states voted in favour of returning to the negotiating table this month to finalize the treaty text.

For almost two decades, Amnesty International has been at the forefront of efforts to win a legally binding treaty grounded in international human rights and humanitarian law. Previous attempts before World War Two to forge an arms trade treaty collapsed in part because of the absence of such standards.

Existing UN arms embargoes are only imposed after atrocities have been documented. Because of the lack of agreed systems of regulating arms transfers, they mostly fail to stop the supply of weapons and munitions that continue to fuel atrocities and serious violations of human rights on a massive scale.

That is why it is so important for states to take responsibility for the arms they supply and include a Golden Rule in the treaty. States should assess any proposed transfer to see if there is a substantial risk the arms will be used to commit or facilitate serious human rights violations. If there is such a risk, the transfer should not take place.

“No government or political leader admits publicly that it is acceptable to aid those who commit crimes and human rights abuses – whether in conflict or peacetime – but since the treaty talks began no rule has appeared in the draft texts to prohibit putting arms into the hands of such perpetrators,” said Brian Wood, Amnesty International’s Head of Arms Control and Human Rights.

“Around the world, people are now watching this process hoping their political leaders will not fail them – survivors of armed violence and their communities are crying out for a strong Arms Trade Treaty with clear, universal rules for human rights protection at its core.”

In a briefing released last week, Amnesty International singled out the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, the UK and the USA – as shouldering the greatest burden in making a strong treaty a reality. They are charged with maintaining international peace and security, yet in 2010 they accounted for approximately 60 per cent of the more than US$70 billion annual trade in conventional weapons. Their economic interests are growing as the trade is expected to reach US$100 billion annually in the next few years.