On 19 October 2021, the 2021 International Seminar on Global Poverty Reduction Partnerships was successfully held in Beijing. The seminar was co-organized by the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC), the China Internet Information Center (CIIC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Food Programme (WFP), as a parallel forum of the 2021 Global Rural Development Forum.
Mr. Xu Jianmin, Director-General of the Department of General Affairs of National Rural Revitalization Administration (NRRA), Mr. Carlos Watson, Representative of FAO in China, Mr. ZHENG Wenhua, Deputy Party Secretary of CIIC, Mr. Matteo Marchisio, Country Director and the Head of East Asia Regional Hub and South-South Cooperation Center of IFAD in China, and Mr. Stanlake Samkange, Senior Director of Strategic Partnership of WFP delivered opening remarks. Ms. Wei WANG, Chief Partnership Officer, and Adviser to the President of IFAD and Dr. LIU Junwen, Director General of IPRCC delivered the closing remarks. Ms. LI Xin, Deputy Director General of IPRCC acted as the Master of Ceremony of the event, and moderated the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony. More than 120 representatives from government departments, international organizations, social organizations, research institutes and the media participated in the seminar in-person or via online conference.
The seminar carried out policy dialogues and practical experience sharing with the theme of “Post-COVID-19 Global Rural Development and Poverty Reduction: Innovations for Agri-Food Systems Transformation”. The objective is to convene key stakeholders on successes, challenges and lessons learned with a focus on strengthening south-south cooperation partnerships around global poverty reduction, with the aim of achieve the SDGs through corporate actions. The 2021 Seminar pays special attention to the interventions and innovations being considered and implemented by development actors with regard to the post-COVID-19 period.
Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee, United Nations Development System Resident Coordinator in China moderated the first session, which discussed key messages from the UN Food Systems Summit, the follow-up actions and cooperation related to rural poverty reduction, and examined the countermeasures to the impact of COVID-19 on food access and poverty.
Ms. Maha Ahmed, Deputy Country Director of WFP in China moderated the second session, which discussed the application of innovative approaches in promoting Agri-Food Systems transformation, reducing poverty and fostering rural development.
During the event, The 2021 Annual Report of International Poverty Report was released by Dr. TAN Weiping, Deputy Director General of IPRCC and Dr. SHI Jianping, Vice President of Central University of Finance and Economics of China. The outcomes of the first call of Global Solicitation and Challenge Prize on Best Poverty Reduction Practices - Global Poverty Reduction Case Series 2021 was released, the award list of the second call was announced. The third round of solicitation was also launched.
