China's experience in coping with its own poverty problems will
prove invaluable as the nation attempts to help alleviate poverty
in Africa, said a senior anti-poverty official yesterday.
China is committed to helping Africa combat poverty and will
share its experiences of bringing more than 100 million people out
of absolute poverty over the past three decades, said Zhang Lei,
director of the International Poverty Reduction Center in
China.
As part of the effort the center will train about 300
anti-poverty officials each year with the majority of them being
African.
Set up last year with the support of the United Nations and
World Bank the center plans to hold two fortnight long workshops
for African countries in the second half of this year.
The first will be on July 5 and aims to provide case-study
opportunities for about 30 division-chief level officials from
about 20 African countries. A high-ranking workshop for
ministerial-level officials will follow in September.
"The most important lesson we want to share is the strong
resolve of the government in reducing poverty," said Zhang, who
also works for the State Council Leading Group on Poverty
Alleviation.
Nearly half the population of sub-Saharan Africa lives on less
than US$1 a day and their life expectancy is less than 50 years
which is mainly due to armed conflicts, AIDS and inadequate health
care and social services.
Along with poverty reduction aid, China has also encouraged its
companies to increase investment in agriculture, fishing,
manufacturing, the infrastructure and resource exploration in "the
continent of opportunities."
More than 40 domestic and international experts have compiled an
investment report commissioned by the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC).
"We expect China's investment in Africa will gallop in the
coming years because China's advantages in certain sectors can meet
African people's needs," said Shi Yongxiang, a leading expert on
the team.
China is advanced in agricultural technology, seed cultivation
and oil exploration and produces inexpensive and durable light
industrial products and machinery, said Shi. Chinese enterprises
were also competitive in road and railway building,
telecommunications, irrigation and energy and these were exactly
what many African countries needed, Shi added.
The idea from Shi’s team that China set up cutting edge
agricultural technology demonstration parks in Africa has been
accepted by China's highest leadership, according to sources with
the NDRC.
(China Daily June 22, 2006)