The 2017 Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum kicked off on 9 October 2017 in Beijing. Wang Yang, Vice Premier of the State Council of China, attended and addressed the forum.

The theme of this forum is “Targeted Poverty Alleviation and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, sent greetings to the participants and highlighted that “targeted poverty reduction strategies are the only way to reach those farthest behind and achieve the ambitious targets set out in the 2030 Agenda. China’s experiences can provide valuable lessons to other developing countries” Over 200 officials from 13 countries, representatives from 16 international organizations, experts and scholars participated in this forum.”

José Graziano Da Silva, Director- General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, also addressed the forum via a video message and praised China for its remarkable achievements in poverty reduction through a strong leadership, innovating approaches towards poverty reduction, starting from agricultural reforms, followed by stimulating the rural non-farm economy, and adopting territorial and targeted strategies. This strategy has been instrumental in identifying and reaching the poorest of the poor with contribution from all sectors of the society. He emphasized that as the majority of the world’s extreme poor are concentrated in rural areas and depend, at least partly, on agriculture for their livelihoods and food security. Investing in agriculture has therefore a greater potential to reduce poverty than investing in other sectors.

Vincent Martin, the Representative of FAOin China attended the forum and gave an interview to China.org.cn. While acknowledging China’s achievement in poverty reduction, he said that we should not only share China’s successful experiences, but also contribute to the efforts of poverty reduction in China through FAO Country Programming Framework.

 “As China’s Vice Premier Wang Yang mentioned, targeted poverty reduction means knowing who and where the poor population are and what they need. What has worked in other regions of the world was based on a clear identification of the poor, combined with a multi-disciplinary approach to such a complex issue. The fact tells me that the key issue to poverty reduction is to assist the right people at the right time and understand exactly what they need,” added Martin.