Nearly 30 experts from China and abroad shared poverty relief strategies of China and countries along the “Belt and Road” (“B&R”) at a recent forum while discussing how to build a related mechanism for exchanges and cooperation among “B&R” countries.

The International Seminar on Sharing Experiences in Poverty Reduction in Belt and Road Countries was held from May 18 to 19 in Beijing. It was co-hosted by the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE), the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC), the Delegation of the European Union to China, and the China Internet Information Center.

In the decades since the reform and opening up, China has lifted more than 700 million people in rural areas out of poverty. The country will realize the poverty reduction goal specified in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years in advance, said Xiao Fenghuai, deputy director of the CICETE, adding that China’s experiences in poverty relief will serve as important references for other developing countries.

In the keynote speech, Tan Weiping, deputy director-general of the IPRCC, attributed China’s achievements in reducing rural poverty to the active implementation of regional development strategies and policies concerning agriculture, peasants and rural areas, the alleviation of poverty in a targeted fashion, the increasing of financial input on the issue, and the encouragement of full social participation.

Xiang Deping, director of the Research Center for Poverty Reduction and Development of China at Wuhan University, summed up China’s poverty reduction experiences in social fields. They include attaching much importance to the education realm at the critical stage of poverty alleviation, stepping up efforts in the health sector, and linking the subsistence security system with poverty alleviation and development policies, Xiang said.

Strong government support, increased spending, improved capital management and the integration of other poverty relief models are valuable experiences from the fiscal perspective, said Wang Sangui, director of the China Poverty Reduction Institute at Renmin University of China.

From the perspective of ecology, Wu Guobao, director of the Research Center for Poverty Issues at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the fragility of China’s ecosystem is highly relevant to the poverty index. Protecting the environment in poverty-stricken areas is a crucial form of targeted poverty alleviation, he said.

At the seminar, experts from the European Union, the Philippines, Cambodia and Pakistan also discussed the experiences and challenges of poverty reduction in their own countries.

There are roughly 21.9 million poor people in the Philippines. Peter Paul Sengson, policy advisor to the Philippine National Anti-Poverty Commission, said corruption, backward agriculture and inequality are the main reasons.

Currently, the country is taking a few measures to change the situation, such as terminating illegal labor contracts, carrying out comprehensive agricultural reform, coordinating capital support between the health and education fields, and improving mechanisms for the aged, Sengson said.

Murad Ali, an assistant professor of development studies at the University of Malakand in Pakistan, shed light on the evolution of Pakistan’s national poverty reduction policy, saying that some policies have failed to achieve expected results due to political factors, natural disasters and terrorism. Nonetheless, the overall conditions of Pakistan, including social order, have improved since 2016, Ali said.

Attendees concurred that countries along the “Belt and Road” need to build a long-term dialogue and cooperation mechanism to provide a platform for sharing experiences and knowledge on poverty reduction.

Zhang Qi, director of the China Institute for Poverty Reduction at Beijing Normal University, suggested developing a fixed, regular and long-term mechanism.

Regarding future cooperation on poverty alleviation, they agree upon “harmony in diversity,” calling on countries concerned to pay mutual respect and conduct effective communication.

Noting local prejudices during international cooperation, Sengson said social forces should not be underestimated in global poverty reduction cooperation, because they are not only beneficiaries, but should also be partners.

Pheak Sothea, director of the Department of Rural Economics at the Ministry of Rural Development of Cambodia, expressed the hope that a poverty-relief network can be established for countries to share information, cases and experiences.