Farmers work in a greenhouse equipped with photovoltaic panels on the top of the greenhouse at Dongping Township in Zhenghe county, East China's Fujian Province, July 28, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

A seminar on how political parties could help poverty eradication kicked off on Monday in East China's Fujian Province. Ambassadors and political party delegates attended the conference and shared the consensus that poverty alleviation of each country relies on the leadership of political parties as well as multilateral cooperation. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a message of congratulations to the seminar co-held by the International Department of Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC) and CPC Fujian Provincial Committee, calling on the international community, including political parties in all countries, to work together to accelerate the process of global poverty reduction, as difficulties and challenges in this regard are still severe.

Xi had worked in Fujian for a long time and elaborated on his thoughts on poverty eradication through his experiences in the province. Practices in Fujian such as officials being stationed in villages, sending technicians to poor areas, targeted measures and close monitoring to avoid returning to poverty were subsequently adopted nationwide. 

International delegates learned about the poverty eradication experience of Fujian, and shared challenges and efforts of their own countries as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which falls on Saturday this year, approaches. Attendees emphasized such a forum is timely in exchanging ideas and practices on poverty alleviation, especially at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic makes the mission more difficult. 

Ambassadors to China from more than 30 countries, including Pakistan, Egypt and Argentina, participated in the seminar offline in Fuzhou, capital city of Fujian, while delegates from more than 100 political parties worldwide attended via video link. 

Egyptian Ambassador Mohamed Elbadri told the Global Times that he was impressed at how Fujian and China had lifted people out of poverty. Elbadri said there are many books and scholars' theories on poverty eradication, but there is always the problem of experience, and China has offered a living example. 

China's experience shed a light on how anti-poverty strategy needs to take into consideration of all the factors including infrastructure, the role of the government, the private sector, and the leadership, policymakers for macro design and people who carry out the policies at micro level, he said. 

Tapusalaia Terry Toomata, Ambassador of Samoa, said that the forum is a "timely event amid the pandemic" that generates economic and social problems, making eradicating poverty much tougher. The forum offered countries a platform to learn from each other about governance and plans to reduce poverty, he said.

Beate Trankmann, UNDP resident representative for China, delivered a keynote speech, saying that China's targeted and bottom-up strategy in poverty alleviation has been acknowledged and the International Poverty Reduction Center in China, co-initiated by the Chinese government, UNDP and other international organizations, has been sharing knowledge on the issue to the world. 

Song Tao, head of the International Department of Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, delivers a keynote speech at an international seminar on "Poverty Eradication, Responsibility of Political Parties" on Monday in Fuzhou, capital of East China's Fujian Province. Some 400 ambassadors and political party delegates attended the seminar online and offline. Photo: GT/Zhang Han

Song Tao, head of IDCPC, while addressing the seminar, noted that political parties should take their responsibility in tackling poverty, rather than indulge in election politics and ignore people's livelihood. 

China is willing to share its experiences and firmly opposes actions that suppress people of other countries who want to pursue a better life, Song said. But it is also important that there is no panacea in poverty eradication, he said, noting China holds an open attitude for countries to figure out and develop their solution to the problem, rather than consider systems of governance or ideology first. 

Ambassadors will also visit an ethnic village that shrug off poverty by developing tourism, agriculture and almost tripled personal disposable income to 23,000 yuan ($3,410) from 2014 to 2019.