VI. International Cooperation

The Chinese government is committed to solving the problem of poverty with its own efforts while learning from other countries' advanced concepts and successful approaches in the course of poverty reduction. It actively shares with them China's experience and practice in development-oriented poverty reduction, and provided foreign aid within its ability.

In the early 1990s, China began to make use of foreign funds in its fight against poverty. It has conducted successful cooperation in poverty reduction projects with the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Asian Development Bank and other international organizations, as well as UK, Germany, Japan and non-governmental organizations in other countries. According to incomplete statistics, by 2010 a total of 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in foreign funds had been poured into poverty reduction in China, and the aggregate direct investment had reached nearly 20 billion yuan if supporting funds from the Chinese government are taken into account. About 110 foreign-funded poverty reduction projects had been implemented, covering 20 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) and more than 300 counties in central and western China, and benefiting nearly 20 million impoverished people.

Poverty reduction with foreign funds has been an important part of China's development-oriented poverty reduction drive, in the implementation of which China has brought in from abroad some advanced concepts and successful approaches in its efforts to reduce poverty, such as participatory poverty reduction, small-sum loans, project appraisal and management, and poverty monitoring and evaluation. These advanced concepts and methods, gradually put into China's poverty reduction practice, have played a positive role in innovating the mechanism of development-oriented poverty reduction, improving the work of poverty reduction and tapping human resources in this field.

Over the years, China has taken an active part in the international poverty reduction cause, helping set up an international exchange and cooperation platform for poverty reduction, and sharing with other developing countries its poverty reduction experience in order to seek common development. In 2004, the Chinese government co-sponsored with the World Bank the Global Conference on Poverty Reduction in Shanghai, and established, together with the UNDP and other international organizations, the International Poverty Reduction Center in China. Since 2007, the Chinese government and the United Nations System in China have convened every year the Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (October 17) to discuss the situation and problems of international poverty reduction. The Chinese government has also organized the China-ASEAN Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction, which has promoted poverty reduction cooperation between China and the ASEAN countries, facilitating the process of poverty reduction and promoting regional development, stability and prosperity. In 2010, the Chinese government hosted the China-Africa Poverty Reduction and Development Conference jointly with relevant countries and international organizations, and stressed the "seeking development through reform" approach to reducing poverty and making progress toward the Millennium Development Goals in Africa. In recent years, the Chinese government has completed more than 40 research projects on poverty reduction theories and policies of both China and abroad, trained 720 middle- and high-ranking officials from 91 developing countries, held more than 100 high-level dialogue sessions, seminars, forums, visits and bilateral exchanges related to poverty reduction, and signed cooperation agreements or established cooperation centers for poverty reduction with other developing countries, including Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Tanzania and Mozambique.