On 17 October 2019, the delegation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation led by its Deputy Secretary-General Sherali Jonon took part in the 2019 Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum, devoted to poverty reduction governance, global experience and China's practices. The forum also marked the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.
Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China Hu Chunhua, foreign delegation heads, leaders of international organisations and representatives of research circles spoke at the forum.
SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov's address to the forum participants was read out, saying, "The successful experience of China, a founding country of the SCO, will be beneficial for the international community and will provide an opportunity to outline new ways of solving this pressing problem on the global agenda."
The SCO Secretary-General emphasised: "Poverty, dire poverty and the problems caused by them such as social exclusion, inability to use the fruits of progress, unfortunately still exist in various regions of the world. There are many causes of poverty, they refer to various strata, in particular, women and elderly people, as well as young people. The most important conditions for the provision of a decent life for a person are quality education, access to medical help, social benefits, economic self-reliance and independency. Those who live in rural areas, remote areas with unfavourable climate conditions, in areas of instability, armed conflicts and civil wars suffer the most."
Mr Norov stated the fact that after the 2015 UN Summit on Sustainable Development, China has not only taken the lead role in the adoption of country programmes and reports to the UN on the implementation of the Agenda for 2030, but also integrated its implementation with the 13th five-year plan of national economic and social development for 2016-2020. The Chinese Government uses various innovative methods such as pilot projects and national displays of innovation and sustainable development in Shenzhen, Taiyuan, Guilin, Chenzhou, Lincang and Chengde in accordance with the principle of "innovation concept, focus on problems, multilateral participation and open exchange."
In this relation, Mr Secretary-General noted, "it can be seen that as a result of large-scale and meticulous work, the number of poor people in China's rural areas reduced from 55.75 million in 2015 to 16.6 million in 2018. This year, the Chinese
Government plans to provide assistance to another 10 million people and 330 counties and to improve their social and economic situation."
"UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised China as the country that contributed the most to the alleviation of global poverty. In the UN General Assembly resolution on reducing poverty in rural areas, adopted in 2018, China's concept and practice in targeted reduction of poverty were used. This is an outstanding result which shows China's determination to put an end to this social phenomenon," Vladimir Norov said.