hinese President Xi Jinping addresses the 2015 Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum in Beijing, capital of China, Oct 16, 2015. (Photo/Xinhua)
Chinese officials stressed international cooperation to relieve poverty worldwide while encouraging developing countries to learn from its own experience on Saturday.
"China has intensified cooperation with developing countries in poverty relief in recent years, marking a step further from merely sharing experience and expanding," said Tan Weiping, deputy head of the International Poverty Reduction Center of China.
Tan made the remarks as China observed its second National Poverty Relief Day and the 23rd International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Saturday.
China has lifted more than 600 million people out of poverty in the past 30 years, accounting for about 70 percent of those brought out of poverty worldwide.
The Chinese government pledged to enact more support policies to lift the country's 70 million poor people above the poverty line by 2020, President Xi Jinping said Friday at the Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum in Beijing.
As of the end of 2014, China still had 70.17 million people in the countryside living below the country's poverty line of 2,300 yuan (363 U.S. dollars) in annual income by 2010 price standards. The president said poverty alleviation will be a major part of China's post-2015 agenda.
While striving to reduce poverty at home, China has also actively supported the cause in other developing countries.
Over the past 60 years, China has provided 166 countries and international organizations with nearly 400 billion yuan in assistance. China has unconditionally forgiven mature inter-governmental interest-free loans held by heavily indebted developing countries seven times.
The goal of eliminating poverty in 15 years was laid out at a United Nations summit last month, and China pledged an initial 2 billion U.S. dollars to establish an assistance fund to help developing nations fight poverty.
"The Chinese government proposed a rural poverty reduction project in East Asia, aiming to help developing countries in the neighborhood to alleviate poverty through pilot projects in grassroots relief and development," said Tan.
China offered 100 million yuan for rural poverty reduction projects in East Asia.
The offer, including a preferential loan worth 10 billion dollars for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members and a 10-billion-dollar special loan set up by China Development Bank for regional infrastructure development, was made by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the 9th East Asia Summit in Nay Pyi Taw, capital of Myanmar, in November 2014.
Li also pledged to offer assistance worth 3 billion yuan to less developed members of ASEAN in 2015 to help the regional bloc reduce poverty.
China is trying to help by teaching local people the skills to rid themselves of poverty, Tan said.
Through long-term investment, personnel training and establishing industrial chains, China has tried to help people in the least developed areas expand production, the expert added.
Attendees of the Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum said they look forward to further cooperation with China to promote the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
