Poverty eradication key to achieving SDGs

The "International Conference on China and the World: Towards Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind" was held in Beijing on July 5. Scholars from home and abroad exchanged their views on issues of poverty eradication and South-South cooperation at a symposium.

Wei Houkai, director of the Rural Development Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that China had formulated two Outlines of poverty alleviation and development in China's rural areas in 2001 and 2011, rolled out the targeted poverty alleviation strategy in 2013, and put forward in 2015 to win the battle against poverty. By the end of 2020, the rural poor population below China's current poverty line had been lifted out of poverty.

He noted the two bottom lines for the Chinese government to comprehensively promote rural vitalization, one is to ensure food security and the other is to prevent large-scale relapse into poverty.

"With a good start, the rural revitalization strategy successfully completed the tasks of the first phase from 2018 to 2022," he said.

Nie Fengying, vice director of the Agriculture Information Institute at Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that China has met the poverty eradication target of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ten years ahead of schedule, while contributing 70 percent of the global poverty reduction.

China's successful practice in eliminating extreme poverty has offered important references and experience for the world, especially for the Global South.

Muhammad Asif Noor, director of Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies in Pakistan, said that China's commitment to poverty eradication is reflected in all aspects of its policies, with the well-being and social security of the people at the center, including social assistance programs; health care reform; and efforts to improve access to housing, clean water, and sanitation.

Charles Onunaiju, director of the Center for China Studies in Nigeria, pointed out that the policy also needs to mobilize social and economic resources, and to involve individuals in this cause.

"China once had a large scale of poverty population, but these people were actively mobilized and took the initiative to get rid of poverty. Africa should learn from China in this regard," he added.