Nobember 5, 2011, Beijing - On November 1-2, 2018, the International Forum on Reform and Opening Up and Poverty Reduction in China, jointly hosted by the Chinese Government and the World Bank Group, was held in Beijing. Representatives exchanged ideas under the theme of “International Cooperation on Poverty Reduction: Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind” and reached the following consensus:
1. Reform and opening up policies are the critical decisions that have led China to where it is today. They are the source of China’s economic dynamism and social progress, and have served as a great driving force for China’s poverty reduction efforts. China has become the world’s second largest economy and the largest contributor to global economic growth, and has transformed from a low-income to a middle-income nation.
2. The Chinese Government is pursuing supply-side structural reforms in a range of areas that are focused on achieving higher quality and productivity driven growth under its new development philosophy. China has been actively transforming the way its economy grows, optimizing and upgrading economic structures, building modern economic systems, and promoting high-quality development. China’s economy has continued to grow across all sectors, and its pattern of growth has become more balanced and sustainable.
3. Comprehensive opening-up is the only way to prosperity and an important guarantee of China’s modernization. The Chinese Government adheres to the principle of opening-up, welcomes foreign participation in its domestic development, and actively develops global partnerships. China follows the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, to promote international cooperation under the Belt and Road framework. It is committed to developing an open economy of higher standards, actively participating in global governance reform, and building a community of shared future for mankind.
4. Through reform and opening up, as well as large-scale poverty reduction efforts, China blazed a trail in poverty reduction with Chinese characteristics, enabling more than 700 million rural people to lift themselves out of poverty, which accounts for more than 70 percent of global poverty since early 1980s. China wrote a new chapter in mankind’s fight against poverty. China was the first developing nation to achieve the poverty reduction target set at the UN Millennium Development Goals, and as such offers Chinese experience for global poverty reduction.
5. Reducing poverty is the basic prerequisite and a significant indicator of achieving a moderately prosperous society, a priority for the Chinese Government. China’s President Xi Jinping has stressed repeatedly that poverty alleviation should focus on targeting people and areas and has made important decisions, which greatly enrich and extend the concept of poverty reduction with Chinese characteristics. China carries out targeted poverty reduction measures. While working to reduce poverty, China highlights the importance of helping people increase confidence in their own ability to lift themselves out of poverty, while making education easily accessible in poverty-stricken areas. The joint efforts of government, society, and the market to fight poverty have yielded decisive progress, achieving the biggest success in China’s efforts to poverty reduction and hence making a great contribution to the global cause of poverty eradication.
6. The world is facing insufficient drivers of growth and deep North-South development disparities. We call for safeguarding and developing an open global economy, building an international economic and financial system that is fair, just, inclusive and orderly, so as to create a sound environment for poverty reduction efforts worldwide. All nations should enhance their practical cooperation in poverty reduction strategies to achieve common and sustainable development. Nations should draw lessons from each other’s experiences and methods, in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and contribute to global poverty reduction efforts.
7. There is a need to increase and optimize financial support for poor people to effectively champion global poverty reduction efforts. Key to success will be to strengthen communications and collaborations among the different players providing financial support, including multilateral development financial institutions, individual countries’ policy-based financial institutions, development-oriented financial institutions, and commercial financial institutions. Financial institutions can play an important role and join the global fight against poverty by granting loans, joint financing, and equity investment, promoting sustainable economic development, while achieving inclusive growth and shared prosperity.
