6 August, 2014 --- The closing ceremony of the “Seminar on Regional Development and Poverty Reduction for Nepali Officials in 2014”, sponsored by China’s Ministry of Commerce and organized by IPRCC, was held at the Beijing Fraternal Cooperation International Hotel. A total of 19 representatives working in the area of poverty reduction and development from Nepal attended the 14-day event. The closing ceremony was chaired by IPRCC Assistant Director General Mr. Wang Shu and respectively addressed by Mr. Gautam Narad, a representative of the Nepalese government, Mr. Xu Kai, Director of the Academy for International Business Officials (AIBO) under the Ministry of Commerce, and Mr. Tan Weiping, Deputy Director General of IPRCC.

Themed on “Regional Development and Poverty Reduction”, this seminar consisted of two parts: thematic lectures and field trips. A total of 10 thematic lectures were given, covering a range of topics including introduction to China’s national conditions, China’s rural development policies and practices, the policies and practices of development-oriented poverty alleviation in rural China, the policies and practices of China’s rural education development, the policies and practices of China’s rural health development, the production and management modes of China’s rural residents, China’s rural social security system, and China’s urban poverty reduction policies and practices. Two field trips to Gansu Province and Beijing were organized. In Gansu, the participants inspected the whole-village advancement, poverty reduction through industrial development, social security and relocation projects, and in Beijing they paid a visit to the Xiaotangshan Modern Agricultural Science Demonstration Park.

This seminar advanced the policy sharing and experience exchanging between China and Nepal in the field of poverty reduction and development, analyzed their problems and challenges in realizing regional development and poverty reduction, and fostered their exchanges and cooperation in poverty reduction.