25 September, 2014 --- The closing ceremony of the “Seminar on Public Service and Poverty Reduction for Latin America, the Caribbean and the South-Pacific Region Officials in 2014”, sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of the P.R.C and organized by the IPRCC, took place at the Beijing Fraternal Cooperation International Hotel. A total of 18 representatives working in the area of poverty reduction and development from Latin America, the Caribbean and the South-Pacific Region attended the 15-day event. The ceremony was chaired by Director of IPRCC’s Training Division Wei Boping and addressed by Secretary of The Department of American Affairs, Surinam National Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ms. Patricia Victory and IPRCC Assistant Director General Wang Shu.

Themed on “Public Service and Poverty Reduction”, the 15-day seminar consisted of three parts: thematic lectures, country-specific presentations and field trips. There were eight thematic lectures in total, including China’s National Economic and Social Development and Strategy, China’s Rural Poverty Reduction and Development Policy and Practice, China’s Rural Public Service Overall Framework and Implementation Mode, China’s Rural Infrastructure Policy and Practice, China’s Rural Education Development Policy and Practice, China’s Rural Healthcare Development Policy and Practice, China’s Science and Technology Policy and Practice, China’s Financial Policy and Practice, China’s Rural Social Security System and Beijing Social Development Case Teaching. Q&A and interactive discussion were also arranged in each lecture. In the country-specific presentation session, the participating country representatives were invited to introduce the systems, policies, achievements, challenges and experience of their own countries in rural public service. Participants also made a field trip to Sichuan province to inspect projects concerning rural development and poverty reduction, agricultural production, rural infrastructure, rural education development, rural community governance, rural science and technology promotion, rural financial services and rural health development. The delegates also visited Xiaotangshan Modern Agricultural Science Demonstration Park in Beijing.

This seminar advanced the policy sharing and experience exchanging between China and Latin America, the Caribbean and the South-Pacific Region in the field of poverty reduction and development, analyzed their problems and challenges in achieving integrated rural and urban development and poverty reduction, and fostered their exchanges and cooperation in poverty reduction.