The UK Ambassador to China said in Beijing yesterday that China's economic development has not only positively impacted on the world economy, but has also created an international model for the reduction of poverty.

Christopher Hum was speaking at a G8 Seminar held by the Commission for Africa (CFA) in the lead up to the G8 Summit in the UK July 6-8.

According to a CFA report, about 400 million Chinese successfully escaped from poverty between 1981 and 2001.

It said the surge of China-Africa trade provides a significant model when studying poverty reduction approaches in Africa.

China has exempted tariffs for the 25 most underdeveloped African nations and offered US$50 million to the Africa Development Fund to help fight poverty.

African countries can learn from China's success in boosting the private economy, increasing investment in infrastructure construction and improving the policy implementation capability of central and local governmental organs, Hum said.

"Africa needs to rely on its own efforts to develop, but it is also the responsibility and duty of the international community to offer assistance in this process," said Ji Peiding, vice-chairman of the National People's Congress' Foreign Affairs Committee and also a CFA commissioner.

Ji called on the international community, developed countries in particular, to honor commitments to concrete actions such as providing debt relief, bigger assistance and broader market access to African countries.

The CFA was launched by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in February 2004, aiming to take a fresh look at Africa's past and present and the international community's role in its development path.

(Xinhua News Agency June 8, 2005)