On December 11, 2010, in order to mark the 60th anniversary of China’s foreign aid, the 2010 Internatioanl Forum on South-South Cooperation and Development – China-Africa Agricultural Trade, Investment and Technical Cooperation was co-hosted by the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Zhejiang University (ZJU), UK Department for International Development (DFID) and IPRCC at the Fraternal Cooperation lnternational Hotel in Beijing. IPRCC Director-General Xu Hui delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony.

Mr. Xu pointed that, as China and African countries are in the developing stage, it is the goal shared by their governments and peoples to promote development, eradicate poverty and achieve prosperity and progress. Over the past 30 years, China has made remarkable achievements in the fields of development and poverty reduction, and turned itself into the first developing country that has attained the poverty reduction goal among the UN MDGs in advance. In light of the poverty standard of the Chinese government then, China’s rural population had declined from 250 million in 1978 to 35.97 million in 2009, with the impoverishment rate down to 3.8%. The data released by the World Bank indicate that about 70% of the achievements in the global poverty reduction cause were made by China, without which the entire world poor population would have grown by 58 million in real terms.

The Chinese government has always attached great importance to the alleviation and elimination of rural poverty, and blazed a path of poverty relief with Chinese characteristics. The rural management system reform initiated in 1978 has laid the institutional foundation for alleviating rural poverty and the development-oriented poverty alleviation launched in 1986 has basically solved the subsistence problem of the rural poor. Since 2002, the Chinese government has coordinated urban and rural development and gradually formed such a pattern of “grand poverty alleviation” as integrating industrial, regional and social policies. Particularly in actively coping with the impact of the global financial crisis, the Chinese government has steadily pushed ahead with the special development-oriented poverty alleviaiton in rural areas. Firstly, it has continued the policy of development-oriented poverty alleviation and provided more support for the development of poor rural areas by pushing forward the whole-village advancment, industry-based poverty alleviation, training for rural laborers looking for urban employment and relocation-based poverty alleviation on a full scale, and strengthening the comprehensive treatment of special poverty-stricken areas in an effort to promote the overall development of those areas from the aspects of economic development, human resource development, social progress, eco-environmental protection, etc. Secondly, it has implemented the pilot program connecting the subsistence allowance system for rural residents and the development-oriented poverty alleviation policy to seek for an effective approach that organically combines the social security, relief and rescue in rural areas and the coordinated development of the economic, natural, human and social resources of the poor areas and the advancment of the self-development and self-accumulation capacities of the people in financial difficulties. Thirdly, it has adjusted the economic growth mode and improved the strategy for balanced urban and rural development. Being more conducive to the development of the impoverished areas and people, economic growth has laid a solid foundation for facilitating the equalization of social services in both urban and rural areas, bridging the gap between urban and rural ares, various regions and social classes, and building a harmonious society.

It is to my knowledge that various African countries are also exploring the development road suitable to their own conditions and making their efforts to carry forward the poverty reduction undertaking, however, due to various reasons, the African countries are still faced with tremendous challenges. Chinese development experience suggests that the effective policies and strategies targeting governmental agriculture sectors and rural development are, to larger extent, supportive to the development of poverty alleviation. Therefore, strengthening China-Africa exchange and cooperation in the field of poverty alleviation, sharing experience and lessons, and pushing forward the process of achieving MDGs are very important and necessary, and they are also our common concerns.

As a poverty alleviation knowledge-sharing platform launched and set up jointly by the Chinese government and the international institutions such as UNDP, IPRCC relies on Chinese successful experiences in poverty alleviation and development, gives full play to the international poverty alleviation notes-comparing and exchange platform as well as the channel of South-South Cooperation, and makes contributions for the global poverty elimination cause. We observe the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on October 17 every year by organizing a series of events and activities, during which the hot issues concerning poverty alleviation and development were discussed in details with excellent results, such as the Poverty Reduction and Development Forum, China-ASEAN Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction designed for promoting experience sharing among ASEAN countries, Experience-Sharing Program on Development between China and Africa organized by IPRCC and jointly co-sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, LGOP and the World Bank, Africa-China Poverty Reduction and Development Conference held in Ethiopia in November this year, etc. Since 2005, workshops and training courses aiming at boosting capacity building have provided trainings for government officials and poverty reduction practitioners totaling 325 from 42 African countries.

In order to better promote the experience sharing in the aspects of economic growth and poverty alleviation and strengthen mutual study among relevant countries, IPRCC and Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of OECD jointly established China-DAC Study Group, supported by several international multilateral and bilateral development partners. The Study Group centers on research on two subjects: the first is China’s experience in economic growth and poverty alleviation (including the impacts of the aid from international community on China’s development) and the revelation for other developing countries, especially for African countries; the second is the China-Africa economic cooperation and its impacts on African development and poverty alleviation. There are four themes under each subject, i.e. development partners, agricultural growth and rural development, infrastructure construction and environment of enterprise development. In this April, by making advantage of the research project of China-DAC Study Group, we held the Symposium on “Agriculture, Food Security and Rural Development for the Realization of Growth and Poverty Reduction” in Mali, to discuss the development strategies, present conditions and challenges both China and African countries are facing in the field of agriculture, food security and rural development, to explore their relevance and effects, and to probe into the impacts of trade, foreign investment and development aid on China and African agriculture and rural development, and the cooperation between China, African countries and international community in African agricultural development and poverty-alleviation. Today’s meeting has the same concerns with the Mali Conference and it could be described as another chance of deepening the exchange in China-Africa agricultural cooperation In particular the Letter of Intent on the Building of China-Africa Window signed by IPRCC and UNDP this November will further promote the knowledge and experience sharing in China-Africa poverty alleviation.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to express the willingness of IPRCC to strengthen the cooperation in poverty alleviation with all parties present. We are willing to push forward the establishment of mechanisms for the cooperation and exchange between Chinese and African governments as well as between China and various international institutions. There is a broad and promising prospect for the cooperation in this respect. We are willing to step up China-Africa information exchange and sharing as we are aware of the requirements and rich data in this field. We are willing to serve as a platform and window for China-Africa exchange and cooperation in poverty alleviation, engage in the activities and cooperation in this field, promote knowledge and experience sharing internationally, and make a new contribution to this undertaking.