UN official hails China for great leaps in poverty alleviation

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP)-Cambodia country director Nick Beresford praised China on Wednesday for its great success in reducing poverty, lifting hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty.

According to the China's State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, since the launch of reform and opening up in the late 1970s, over 700 million Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty, and the number of the rural poor in China had declined to 43.35 million by the end of 2016.

"Like most people, I am a huge admirer of what the People's Republic of China has achieved in terms of helping people move themselves out of poverty," Nick told Xinhua on the sidelines of the 11th ASEAN-China Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction in northwest Cambodia's Siem Reap province.

"That is the biggest single movement of people out of poverty the world has ever seen," he said, referring to the number of Chinese people who had got out of poverty.

Nick said China's high political commitment was the most important factor contributing to the country's great success in alleviating poverty.

Besides, pro-poor development strategy, social protection policy, and human resources development are the key policy to reduce poverty in China, he added.

He said China's best practices and successful experiences in poverty reduction should be a "role model" for ASEAN countries.

China has set itself the goal of lifting 10 million people out of poverty every year from 2016 and is committed to eradicating poverty entirely among the rural population by 2020.

Nick said with the strong commitment by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government, the world's second largest economy would be surely able to achieve its target.

During the forum on Tuesday and Wednesday, China's best practices and successful experiences on poverty alleviation were shared with more than 120 participants who are government officials, experts, and scholars from China and ASEAN countries.