Seminar on Global Partnership for poverty reduction in Rome. The seminar on “Global Partnerships for Poverty Reduction” was hosted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese government, along with the Rome-based UN food agencies, namely the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The main challenge is to make a continuous progress of structural, agricultural and rural economic transformation in poor countries.
Participants discussed how to share successful experiences on poverty reduction at country level. In order to raise awareness on key issues faced by governments, policy makers and experts the seminar aimed to increase awareness and knowledge on the role of agencies like Italian Development Cooperation, the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC), FAO and IFAD in poverty reduction at country, regional and international level.
Pietro Sebastiani, Director General for Development Cooperation at Italian Foreign Ministry, said the world has come a long way in reducing poverty, “but if we want to achieve complete poverty eradication, the needs of those who are more marginalized need to be addressed in a concerted effort.”
Tan Weiping, IPRCC deputy director-general, said China is tackling poverty in a systematic and well-structured way. He said China has already achieved zero hunger “but we are interested in learning how to address malnutrition.”
“We as IPRCC are happy to be working with FAO and IFAD in developing and implementing together initiatives that contribute to the achievement of poverty reduction goal,” he said.
According to Tan, China just signed a 5-million-U.S.-dollar agreement with IFAD for South-to-South cooperation.
“We are also looking forward to establishing new channels of cooperation with the Italian Agency of Cooperation and Development and with the Italian Government,” Tan added.
China Internet Information Center (CIIC) Vice President, Li Fugen, emphasized the important role of ICTs in reducing poverty, in particular in remote areas by offering innovative solutions for trading goods and giving access to information to everyone. The International Poverty Reduction Centre in China (IPRCC) was jointly established by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, UNDP, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in 2005. The IPRCC’s goal is to enhance the poverty eradication process in China and to contribute to worldwide poverty reduction .