Nairobi, 26 April 2008 – The Chairman of the Chinese National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Mr. Jia Qinglin visited the United Nations Headquarters in Nairobi (UNON) on the last day of his three-day visit to Kenya. It was almost one year to the date when Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the UN in Nairobi.

Prior to coming to Kenya, the Chairman had already visited Tunisia, Ghana and Zimbabwe. Mr. Jia, the fourth ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, was following up on agreements reached between President Hu Jintao and African leaders at the Beijing Summit of the Forum for China-Africa Co-operation last year.

At the UN's headquarters, the Chairman was received by Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT and Director-General of UNON, Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), as well as other senior UN officials. A number of Chinese UN members of staff were also on hand to welcome the Chairman.

After signing the visitors' book Chairman Jia held a brief meeting with Mrs Tibaijuka and Mr Steiner. The Chairman then announced China's pledge to plant 1.5 million trees this year, as part of UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign. Under the Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign, people, communities, business and industry, civil society organizations and governments are encouraged to enter tree planting pledges online with the objective of planting at least one billion trees worldwide during 2007.

Mrs Tibaijuka said: "We were very pleased to receive Chairman Jia at the United Nations Offices in Nairobi today. In his statement he stressed the importance of working for human settlements and protecting the environment. He reiterated his country's commitment to continue to work closely with UN-HABITAT and UNEP in order to achieve these goals."

After the meeting Chairman Qinglin, Mrs Tibaijuka and Mr. Steiner exchanged gifts and the Chairman was shown some of the many works of art that have been given by China to United Nations agencies based in Nairobi over the years, including a bronze drum presented to UN-HABITAT in Nangjing, China, and a mural presented by the Mayor of Shengdu in 2000. It is entitled "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow – Fu-Nan River" and was painted by Shengdu school children.

Chairman Jia then planted a tree: the Pyrus pyrifolia (commonly known as the Asian Pear) which can grow to 15 m in height and produce an apple shaped fruit.

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