Italy, China hold forum on poverty reduction with partners

Over90 representatives from Rome-based United Nations (UN) agencies, civil society, academia,and the diplomatic corps joined a poverty reduction seminar in the Italian capital Friday.

The seminar on"Global Partnershipsfor Poverty Reduction" was hosted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese government.

Participants discussed how to increase awareness and knowledge on the role of agencies like Italian Development Cooperation, the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment (IFAD) in poverty reduction at country, regional andinternational level.

Pietro Sebastiani, Director Generalfor Development Cooperation at Italian Foreign Ministry, said the world has come a long way in reducing poverty,"but if we want toachieve complete poverty eradication, the needs of those who aremore marginalized need to be addressed in a concerted effort".

"That means that each of us plays amajor role in making that goal achievable. Making every citizenwhether in the public or private sector responsible for eradicatingpoverty," he said.

Tan Weiping, IPRCC deputy director-general, said China is tackling poverty in a systematicand well-structured way. He said China has already achieved zerohunger"but we are interested in learning how to address malnutrition".

"We as IPRCC are happy to beworking with FAO and IFAD in developing and implementing together initiatives that contribute to the achievement of poverty reductiongoal," he said.

According to Tan, China just signed a5 million U.S. dollar agreement with IFAD for South-to-Southcooperation.

"We are also looking forward to establishing new channels of cooperation with the Italian Agency ofCooperation and Development and with the Italian Government," Tanadded.

China Internet Information Center(CIIC) Vice President, Li Fugen, emphasized the important role of ICTs in reducing poverty, in particular in remote areas by offering innovative solutions for trading goods and giving access to information to everyone.

IFAD Director of Global Engagement,Knowledge and Strategy Division, Ashwani Mutthoo, said IFAD is contributing to increasing knowledge sharing not only on pastexperiences but on innovative solutions that can contribute to overcoming the present challenges that several member countries arefacing.

"There are still almost800 million people living in poverty and that three-quarters of those peopleare living in rural areas. So addressing rural poverty and making sure that no one, near or far, is left behind is essential to achieve the eradication of poverty," Mutthoo said.