On July 18, 2010, the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) on Poverty Alleviation was closed in Kunming. Ai Ping, Vice Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, Li Jiheng, Deputy Secretary General of CPC Yunnan Provincial Committee, etc. attended the closing ceremony. Zheng Wenkai, member of Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director-General of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development (LGOP), delivered a concluding speech at the closing ceremony.

Mr. Zheng noted that this is a high-level conference. Chinese President and General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao and Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon sent special congratulations to the Conference. Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the Chinese State Council Hui Liangyu attended the Conference and delivered a keynote speech. Participants of the meeting also included D.M. Jayaratne, a senior leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Suthep Thuagsuban, First Deputy Prime Minister and Democrat Party Secretary-General of Thailand, and Sok Analso, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and member of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) Central Committee. The attendance of more than 120 members, including representatives of 55 political parties from 28 Asian countries and observers dispatched by some African political parties, Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) and UN agencies, demonstrated the importance attached by Asian political parties to the issue of development and poverty reduction.

It is a conference that emphasizes reality. Centering on the theme of “Poverty Alleviation: the Common Responsibility for Political Parties in Asia”, Asian political parties gathered together to exchange and explore the poverty reduction and development strategies, with outstanding themes, rich contents and practical pursuance. The Conference put field trips before thematic seminars, combining personal experience with exchanges and interactions. Through traveling to poverty-stricken mountainous areas and visiting poor rural households, participants had a comprehensive knowledge of the industrial development, infrastructure construction, environmental protection, and the construction of CPC organizations at grassroots level in poverty-ridden areas of Yunnan, and had direct experience and deeper understanding of the poverty alleviation and development path with Chinese characteristics and Yunnan’s practice in poverty alleviation and development. As the Chinese agency responsible for poverty alleviation and development, we have also realized and learned the valuable experience and practice of our Asian counterparts in poverty reduction through the exchanges and dialogues with representatives of other Asian political parties in the past few days. It is a conference that reaches a consensus. The representatives of political parties present at the Conference generally appreciated ICAPP holding a specialized conference on poverty alleviation, an important challenge in development that each country is faced with, and were satisfied with the substantial accomplishments yielded in this Conference. Especially the “Asian Political Parties’ Kunming Initiative on Poverty Alleviation” adopted by the Conference embodied the collective intelligence of the participant representatives, and reflected Asian countries’ strong will on speeding up the poverty alleviation cause and consistent support for the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The representatives pointed out that Asian countries’ poverty alleviation cause have attracted worldwide attention for its great achievements, which lays a solid foundation for achieving the UN MDGs as scheduled, and is the motive power of the Asia full of vitality and hope and the source of Asian countries’ faith in uniting as one and transforming the new century into the “Asian Century”. The representatives unanimously agreed that at present the development of Asia is confronted with unprecedented opportunities and challenges, so the poverty reduction and development are the common concerns of Asian countries and the common responsibilities of Asian political parties.

It is a conference that promotes cooperation. There are immense space for international exchange and cooperation in the fields of poverty reduction and development, which is of great practical significance for Asian countries. We are clearly aware that China’s development-oriented poverty alleviation has obtained remarkable achievements, but it is still faced with a lot of new situations and new challenges. Just like many other Asian countries, further eliminating poverty and realizing common prosperity is our objective as well as our long-term and arduous historical task. This Conference has strongly promoted the exchange between Chinese and Asian countries’ political parties in the fields of poverty reduction and development, and constructed a platform at a higher level for deepening the pragmatic cooperation. We shall further strengthen the exchange and dialogue between political parties and continue to work hard for the poverty reduction and development cause of Asia and the vast number of developing countries.