Beijing: The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 2022 Winter Olympics and expressed his expectation that the contacts between the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Chinese authorities will allow for a credible visit of the High Commissioner to China, including Xinjiang.

"The Secretary-General met with Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, and Wang Yi, State Councillor and Foreign Minister, on the margins of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. He congratulated The People's Republic of China for the organization of the Games and thanked the Chinese authorities for their warm hospitality," the United Nations said in a statement.

The Secretary-General and Chinese authorities discussed regional issues, with particular emphasis on Afghanistan.

Facing the dramatic challenges of the pandemic, climate change and the multiplication of conflicts, the Secretary-General underscored the importance of unity and solidarity in a multilateral framework bridging geopolitical divides.

The Secretary-General expressed concern with the dramatic growth of inequalities in the world fuelling the North-South divide. He emphasized the need for a global vaccination plan reaching everybody everywhere, particularly in the African continent, which lacks not just access to vaccines but also the resources needed for the recovery of their economies. He reiterated that this requires serious reform of the international financial system so that developing countries have the possibility to obtain the resources they need, namely through debt relief and increased concessional finance.

Guterres also expressed his expectation that the contacts between the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Chinese authorities will allow for a credible visit of the High Commissioner to China, including Xinjiang.

The Secretary-General stressed the need for developed countries to fulfil their commitments to support developing countries in obtaining and accessing climate finance both for mitigation and adaptation. The Secretary-General recognized the important efforts China is making to address climate change but reiterated the appeal for additional efforts to accelerate the transition to the green economy to bridge the emissions gap.