21-23 August, 2013 --- The 7th China-ASEAN Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction opened in Fangchenggang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The meeting is co-hosted by LGOP and the People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, co-organized by IPRCC, Poverty Alleviation Office of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the People’s Government of Fangchenggang Municipality, and sponsored by the ASEAN Secretariat, UNDP, Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU), China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE), and Asian Development Bank (ADB). More than 120 delegates, including government officials, experts, scholars, media workers, and representatives of Chinese controlled enterprises, NGOs and international organizations from China and ten ASEAN countries, participated in the meeting. Themed on “Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Development in the Urbanization Process”, this year’s forum advocates the elimination of social exclusiveness and institutional barriers through the promotion of fair development opportunities and regional trade to create a more favorable environment for the development of the poverty-stricken population; meanwhile, the forum also advocates more reasonable income distribution to enable the poor to share more results of economic growth and development. Fan Xiaojian, Deputy Head of the State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Director of LGOP, Huang Ribo, Vice Chair of the People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Meck PHANLACK, Vice President of the Laotian National Leading Committee for Rural Development and Poverty Eradication, Edgar Pato, Director of Social and Cultural Cooperation Affairs of the ASEAN Secretariat, Patrick Haverman, UNDP China Deputy Country Director, and Liu Zhengdong, Fangchenggang Municipal Party Secretary attended and addressed the opening ceremony. Deputy Director Zheng Wenkai of LGOP presided over the ceremony.

Director Fan Xiaojian pointed out in his opening speech that through more than thirty years’ reform and opening up, China has witnessed an ever-faster process of industrialization and urbanization. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), since the urban population had exceeded its rural counterpart for the first time in 2010, China’s urbanization rate reached as high as 52.6% in 2012. Between 1978 and 2012, the urbanization rate grew by one percentage point on average annually. In the fast urbanization process, China has achieved remarkable results in poverty reduction, and has generally solved the subsistence problem of its rural population. China has successfully blazed a trail of poverty reduction and development with Chinese characteristics. Driven by economic development and via the basic approach of improving the self-development capacity of the poverty reduction targets, China has integrated government leadership and social relief with the dominant role played by farmers, implemented both inclusive and preferential policies, and linked poverty reduction with social security. While achieving considerable results in rural poverty reduction, China also sees some new changes in poverty phenomena. In the cities, there is a huge gap between the floating population and urban residents in terms of education, health, social security and other basic public services. In rural areas, China faces such new problems as left-behind elderly, women and children as well as landless farmers. These problems have posted new challenges to the design of poverty reduction strategies and policies. In response, the Chinese government, while proceeding from equal employment right, labor remuneration right, occupational safety right, social security right, education and training right, children’s education right and residency right, has carried out cross-departmental cooperation by following the basic idea of coordinated urban and rural development. The country is actively and steadily pushing forward the equalization of basic urban and rural public services, unification of the urban and rural social security systems and improvement of the laws, regulations and policy systems that safeguard the employment right of migrant workers. By improving the capacity and systems, China tries its uttermost to prevent the worsening of urban poverty.

At the ensuing meeting, the participants will have a discussion on a variety of topics, including poverty reduction in the process of urbanization, population mobility, employment and urbanization, public services, social inclusiveness and innovation in social management, urban and rural integration and post-MDG agenda. In addition, the delegates of various ASEAN countries will also give thematic presentations and offer their comments concerning the theme of this year’s forum.