On 9 October 2017, the 2017 Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum, co-hosted by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and P. R. China UN System in China, was held at Beijing Convention Center. More than 200 representatives, including government officials, scholars and experts from 13 countries and16 international organizations participated in the Forum. Mr. Li Yuan, Director of the Trade and Investment Division of ACC attended the meeting on behalf of ACC.

This forum was themed “Taking Targeted Measures in Poverty Alleviation and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda”. Mr. Wang Yang, Vice Premier of the State Council and Mr. Tegegnework Gettu, United Nations Under-Secretary-General attended and addressed the Forum.

Vice Premier Wang stressed that poverty alleviation is the common aspiration of mankind, and is also a main theme of the current era. China is always an advocator and contributor to international poverty alleviation undertakings. China is ready to work with all countries to share experience in poverty alleviation, deepen global poverty alleviation and development cooperation, and inject strong impetus to the realization of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Vice Premier Wang said that the Communist Party of China and Chinese government always take poverty alleviation, improvement of people’s wellbeing and common prosperity as the purpose of governing. The political and institutional advantages of China are the main reason of China’s achievements in poverty reduction. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, though China faced increasing challenges in poverty alleviation, it still endeavoured to lift more than 10 million people out of poverty every year, which demonstrated new and defining feature of the era. The shift of governing style of CPC provided powerful guarantee to the implementation of all kinds of policies and measures. Party organizations and governments at all levels have forged a down-to-earth and hard-working style. Local governments implemented the targeted poverty alleviation policy, the local people explore creative ways to reduce poverty in line with the actual local conditions, and the whole party and society work together to overcome difficulties to enable new progress in poverty alleviation and development. For the next step, China will stick to the new development concept and the targeted poverty alleviation policy, pay more attention to key poverty regions and groups, and further motivate people from all walks of life to participate in poverty reduction, in order to win the battle of poverty reduction and to make new contributions to the global poverty alleviation undertaking.

In the congratulation letter, Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of UN spoke highly of China’s achievements in lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, and said that China’s experience can be drawn by other developing countries. Mr. Guterres expressed that now we are standing in a very important period of time for the realization of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The correct policy tool and powerful partnerships will provide everyone with the opportunity of development in a more equal, prosperous and sustainable world. He looked forward to continued leading role of China in this aspect.

During the Forum, Minister-level officials responsible for poverty alleviation and development related work from China and developing countries, heads of international organizations and representatives from embassies made key-note speeches. They also made extensive and in-depth communications on how to further promote global poverty reduction.