Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has eradicated absolute poverty on schedule after eight years of endeavors. It lifted 100 million rural poor people out of poverty and made unprecedented achievements worldwide. Building on previous achievements, China consolidates and expands achievements made in poverty alleviation in coordination with the extensive drive for rural vitalization. It also promotes coordinated development between rural and urban areas. To contribute to global poverty reduction, China actively fulfills its responsibility as the largest developing country and continues to share its experience through human resources development cooperation projects, making unremitting efforts to help developing countries work together to build better cities and villages featuring coordinated development and no poverty.
The Seminar on Coordinated Urban-Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation for Officials of Developing Countries, held by the Academy for International Business Officials from September 7 to 16, 2022, was fruitful. AIBO invited experts and scholars from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Poverty Reduction Center in China, the Chinese Academy of Personnel Science, China Agricultural University, and Beijing Jiaotong University to deliver diversified, targeted, and informative lectures, covering China’s national conditions, Chinese leaders’ philosophy of governance, the Belt and Road Initiative, rural targeted poverty alleviation, urbanization and coordinated development between urban and rural areas.
During the seminar, speakers detailed Chinese cases of poverty alleviation to show the great development in Chinese urban and rural areas brought by poverty reduction policies. Participants, therefore, have deeper understanding of poverty alleviation. At the closing ceremony of the seminar, Gosaye Mengistie, from the Ministry of Water and Energy, Ethiopia, delivered a speech on behalf of all participants. According to Mr. Gosaye, the seminar is timely and helps him better understand Chinese policies and practices to revitalize rural areas. He said that China’s practices of poverty reduction provide experience for Ethiopia and other developing countries to reduce poverty and promote urban and rural development. There are three observations from Mr. Gosaye.
The people-first principle held by the Chinese government is admirable
Mr. Gosaye thinks that China’s reform and opening-up policies carried out in 1978 are significant and contribute to achieving poverty alleviation in 2020. All these achievements can be attributed to the Chinese government’s principle of putting people first and placing poverty reduction high on governance. It’s also commendable that governments at all levels, from the central government to the government at grassroots level, made consistent efforts to implement these policies. Besides, it’s really visionary that China not only focuses on rural poverty alleviation but also on coordinated and sustainable development for all areas. In addition, China properly distributes and manages poverty reduction funds. All these measures can be learned by Ethiopia and other developing countries.
“Building the road is the first step to becoming prosperous”
As the Chinese saying goes, building the road is the first step to become prosperous. Mr. Gosaye is impressed by this sentence. He said that over the past 40 years, China invested a lot in building and promoting infrastructure, including roads, railways, grids, and telecommunication facilities, which lay a solid foundation for sustainable and rapid economic growth. More input on infrastructure is also important for Ethiopia and other developing countries.
Balanced urban-rural development
Mr. Gosaye thinks that China’s strategies of balancing urban-rural development through urban planning and management of rural lands are very important. He said that Ethiopia carried out a series of plans to promote urban-rural economic growth and transformation but still faces many challenges. China’s reforms balance economic and social development. It also sets green development and employment as important indicators. All these measures set examples for the Ethiopian government to figure out a comprehensive and coordinated strategy for domestic economic growth. By doing so, the Ethiopian government can maintain stability for the macro-economy and promote sustainable urban-rural development and poverty reduction.
At the end of the seminar, Mr. Gosaye told us that his dreams came true. He finally can take a deeper look into China’s practices in poverty alleviation. Mr. Gosaye said, “Thanks to the Chinese government, especially the Academy for International Business Officials, MOFCOM, for giving me such an opportunity to discuss the problems constraining coordinated urban-rural development and share poverty reduction plans with participants from other countries. Through this platform, we know how China reduced poverty and make society more prosperous and stable, and how China built beautiful, habitable, prosperous and harmonious new villagers by improving urban-rural living and production conditions and enhancing the rural living environment.” Mr. Gosaye thinks that Chinese precious and enlightening experience can also help Ethiopia carry out its own ten-year development plans and economic reforms. He also recommends other developing countries learn from China’s achievements and experience and take the path for urban-rural development and poverty reduction suitable for their own national conditions.
It’s China’s goal and responsibility as a major developing country to make a better life for all people and seek goodwill with neighbors and harmony with all nations. It’s also the goal of its foreign aid cooperation with Chinese characteristics. Under the leadership of the CPC, China took a poverty reduction path adapting to its own national conditions, lifted the largest amount of people out of poverty, and set good examples for other developing countries.
Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic intertwined with climate change and rising uncertainties for regional security post unprecedented pressure on China’s poverty alleviation. Given this, countries should cooperate with each other. Despite the pandemic, AIBO holds online seminars themed on poverty alleviation to share China’s development achievements and experience, helps participants better understand China’s concepts for poverty alleviation, and contributes to global poverty alleviation. In the future, AIBO is ready to work with all parties concerned to share experience and improve high-quality seminar lectures to set foreign aid training programs standing the test of time.
