3 May, 2012 --- The opening ceremony of the “Seminar on Development-oriented Poverty Alleviation and Practice for Officials from Francophone Africa”, sponsored by Ministry of Commerce of the P.R.C and organized by the IPRCC, was convened at Beijing Fraternal Cooperation International Hotel. Mr. Wei Chongjin, Deputy Director General of IPRCC chaired the opening session, Mr. Li Chunguang, Director of Department of International Cooperation and Social Mobilization of LGOP addressed the opening ceremony, and Ms. Nathoo Moheenee from Mauritius delivered a speech on behalf of all participants.

Themed on “Development-oriented Poverty Reduction”, the 15-day seminar is divided into two parts – expert lecture and field trip. The lecture covers a range of issues like the general situation of China’s economic and social development, the strategy and experience of development-oriented poverty reduction in rural China, the comparative analysis of poverty reduction and development between China and Africa, the collection and management of China’s rural poverty relief funds, China’s polices & practices regarding development-oriented poverty reduction in rural areas. A field trip is scheduled in Hubei province.

A total of 23 participants working in the area of rural development and poverty reduction from 12 countries including Algeria, Benin, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Congo (Kinshasa), Guinea, Gabon, Mauritius, Senegal, Chad, Mauritania, and Cote d'ivoire attended in the opening session.