On August 21, a seminar for poverty reduction officials in Uzbekistan, hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (National Rural Revitalization Administration) of P. R. China and organized by International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC), kicked off online. Mr. Xia Gengsheng, Member of the CPC Leading Group at Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of P. R. China, Mr. Behzod Musayev, Minister of Employment and Poverty Reduction of Uzbekistan, and Mr. Farhod Arziev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Uzbekistan to China, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches, Mr. Liu Junwen, Director General of IPRCC, presided over the opening ceremony. The purpose of this seminar is to exchange and share China's policies and practices on targeted poverty reduction and eradication, and to provide reference for Uzbekistan's poverty reduction officials to improve their policy formulation and implementation capacity. The seminar will last for five days and more than 9,500 poverty reduction officials will attend from the grassroots and frontline of Uzbekistan.

Mr. Xia Gengsheng, Member of the CPC Leading Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of P. R. China, pointed out that, in the face of poverty, which is a common and persistent affliction of humankind, China, while eradicating poverty itself, has always been an active advocate, powerful promoter and important contributor to the cause of poverty reduction and rural development in the international arena. China and Uzbekistan have a fine tradition of being in the same boat through thick and thin, keeping watch and helping each other. In order to actively implement the instructions of Presidents of the two countries, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (National Rural Revitalization Administration) attaches great importance to capacity building in poverty reduction exchanges between China and Uzbekistan. It is hoped that, through this seminar, the two coutries will continue to expand exchanges and cooperation in poverty reduction, promote the implementation of the Global Development Initiatives, bring more and better benefits to the people of the two countries from the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Uzbekistan, and make joint efforts towards the vision and goal of building a community of shared future featuring zero poverty between China and Uzbekistan.

The Minister of Employment and Poverty Reduction of Uzbekistan, Behzod Musayev, said that in the past 10 years, China has continuously optimized its mechanisms and made great efforts in poverty reduction, especially in providing a good bottom-up guarantee for the poorest groups of the population and carrying out targeted work for each family, which offers great reference significance to us. It is hoped that Uzbekistan officials at all levels will understand the essence of China's poverty reduction practices as they participate in the seminar.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Uzbekistan to China, Farhod Arziev, said that the organization of the Seminar was an important part of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Uzbekistan this year. The Presidents of the two countries attach great importance to the cooperation in poverty reduction and have drawn up a blueprint for it. Our country is particularly willing to learn from China's advanced experience in poverty alleviation.

The theme of this Seminar is clear-cut and has outstanding features. Firstly, the scale of the Seminar is large, with more than 9,500 participants, which is unprecedented in international poverty reduction training over the years. Secondly, the preparation of the Seminar is highly efficient. After month-long communications between China and Uzbekistan, the Seminar was successfully launched. Thirdly, the training is highly targeted, with a carefully designed curriculum that emphasizes the combination of theoretical policies and practical cases. The seminar will introduce China's targeted poverty alleviation strategy and the construction of poverty alleviation policy system, analyze in detail the mechanism, effectiveness and typical experience of China's poverty alleviation policies in entrepreneurship, employment, vocational training, microcredit, and the development of special industries, and explore the ways and measures to strengthen the exchanges and cooperation in the field of poverty alleviation between China and Uzbekistan.