The 6th Joint Working Group Meeting on Poverty Reduction for Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) kicks off via video link in the afternoon of November 22. The meeting was hosted by Community Development Department, Ministry of Interior of Thailand. A total of over 30 members from poverty reduction departments and foreign ministries of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam attended the ceremony. Xu Jianmin, Director General of the General Affairs Department of the National Rural Revitalization Administration of China (NRRA), Commissioner Li Yue of NRRA, and Dr. Tan Weiping, Deputy Director General of the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC) attended the opening ceremony.

At the meeting, Xu briefed the achievement made by China in consolidating poverty elimination results and advancing policy decisions to achieve rural revitalization. He proposed that member countries should work jointly under the LMC framework to deepen experience sharing and pragmatic cooperation in pandemic prevention and control, poverty reduction, and rural development, and to implement the projects under the Global Development Initiative and East Asia Cooperation Initiative on Poverty Reduction (Phase II), so as to contribute to the LMC and common growth, and the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development.

On behalf of the Chinese side, Dr. Tan Weiping presented China’s efforts in promoting LMC in poverty reduction since last joint working group meeting and the work plan outlook for the future. Representatives of other member countries also introduced their general situation and experiences in poverty reduction and rural development, as well as the undergoing LMC funding programs.

The meeting also discussed and approved the Guideline of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation on Poverty Reduction (2023-2027).

Staff from the NRRA General Affairs Department and the IPRCC also attended the meeting.