Sound cooperation with China

"This is my first time to meet Premier Wen at the UN headquarters, but I did go to China last November as (UNDP) administrator and of course four times as New Zealand prime minister, and two before I was prime minister. I think last November was number seven visit," Clark said.

Asked how she evaluates the cooperation between China and UNDP, Clark said, "Very, very good. Both within China, we've been for now 31 years and then also in the sub-region, we've worked on the greater Tumen initiative with China and other partners and also in the southern Mekong area."

Tumen River forms the border between China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Russia.

The Mekong area is closely associated with Lancang River. Originating in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, Lancang River runs 4,880 kilometers through China, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam. Lancang is the name for the river's 2,160-kilometre upper and middle reaches running through China, while the lower reaches outside China are known as the Mekong.

"And now we're expanding that to how can we work with China as a huge contributor to development cooperation in other countries. And we are planning in November, a significant China, Africa, UNDP event in Addis Ababa -- capital of the African Union," she said. " And I expect to go to that with senior Chinese representation."

On the future cooperation with China, Clark said: "What I want is for UNDP continue to evolve the sort of support it offers China in line with China's needs. For example, I understand that China has asked for our support in its poverty reduction strategy, focusing on the inequalities, the poorest of the poor, who's missing out? And we can support that."

"Also when I was in China last year, the minister of environment made it clear that he wants us working with him on how to get a better balance between growth and environmental protection. We can help in those areas," she said. "We see China emerging as a leader in low-carbon, low-cost technologies, wind energy and other forms -- and I think this is of international benefit."

"And we want to grow the relationship with China, as a development partner, off-shore as well and we will be looking for opportunities to partner with China in other countries where we can work to support each other's efforts," she said.

Meaning of MDGs

Asked for comments on MDGs, Clark said: "It means fighting poverty, it means getting every child into school, it means making sure that their mothers and their children don't die of preventable causes, it means people having clean water to drink and proper sanitation, it means looking after our biodiversity, it means tackling deadly diseases like HIV/ AIDS, malaria, and TB."

"It means growing these broad partnerships between everyone who 's contributing to development and developing countries," she said. "And of course we must underline, it means gender equality for women, because Women hold up half the sky'as Chairman Mao once said. So we need women able to hold up their half of the sky."

"All the targets are important and they're all linked," she said. "I think if we were to take one target now, which deserves priority attention, it is the one on health of mothers because so little progress on then global stage has been made."

"The number of deaths is still extremely high and can be brought down," she said. "And also women want access and need access to sexual and reproductive health services, so UNDP will work very hard to support UN Population Fund and others who are working in this area."

"And we can help through the work we do on women's empowerment, because that's also important in tackling maternal health," she said.

Role of UNDP

"Firstly, UNDP has a responsibility in coordination of other agencies," she said of UNDP's efforts to aid countries in implementing MDGs. "So our resident representative also heads the UN country team of agencies, so we take a broad overview."

"I think where we can be of greatest assistance is putting the focus on poverty: who's missing out for the progress a country makes? What strategies are needed to fight it? It may be support for women, it may be support for excluded groups, it may be people who are just plain poor in informal settlements or rural areas. We have to focus on those inequalities in supporting countries to tackle them," she said.