China proposes joint efforts for poverty relief

One of the government’s landmark anti-poverty programs is the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, which is aimed at helping those in “the poorest of the poor” to get out of poverty.

The Day was designated to promote people’s awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution worldwide, particularly in developing countries.

According to the World Bank, the number of people living in extreme poverty will fall below 10 percent in 2015.

Cambodia’s GDP per capita has remarkably increased from US$253 in 1998 to US$1,225 in 2015, affirmed Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in his speech at the 2015 Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum held Friday in Beijing, China under the theme “Common Development through Joint Efforts on Poverty Eradication”. More than 600 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the past 15 years, accounting for about 70% of those brought out of poverty worldwide.

Although China has made remarkable achievements seen across the world, China remains the worlds biggest developing country.

While striving to reduce poverty at home, China has also actively supported the cause in other developing countries. Last year Zheng Wenkai, vice-minister of an office for poverty alleviation and development under China’s State Council, said that China achieved great success in helping almost 40 million poor rural residents overcome poverty last year.

Over the past 60 years, China has provided 166 countries and global organisations with almost 400 billion yuan (USD 66 billion) in assistance.

He admitted that the fight to completely eradicate poverty from China will be hard.

The government has also announced seven times it would exempt, without any conditions, the matured inter-governmental interest free loans owned by heavily indebted poor countries and least developed countries.

China is trying to help by teaching local people the skills to rid themselves of poverty, Tan said.

This year’s observance of the global Day for the Eradication of Poverty falls as the world embarks on a bold new path toward a future of dignity for all guided by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, said Ban.

At a United Nations summit in September, Xi pledged an initial 2 billion US dollars to establish an assistance fund to help developing nations fight poverty, and promised more support for improvements in agriculture, trade, environmental protection, medical services and education.