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Wen raises 5 proposals to attain global prosperity
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-05-27 08:38 Poverty reduction and elimination is not only an
urgent task facing individual countries but also a shared responsibility for the
whole international community, Premier Wen Jiabao said Wednesday at a global
meeting to brainstorm over ways to battle poverty.
Widespread poverty, which remains a severe threat to world peace and
development, is caused by diverse social, historical and natural causes as well
as being closely related with an unfair and irrational international political
and economic order, Wen said at the opening of the Shanghai Conference on
Scaling up Poverty Reduction.
Wen Jiabao speeks
at the opening session of the Global Conference on Scaling-up Poverty
Reduction, held in Shanghai from May 26-27.
[newsphoto] |
Poverty reduction is not only an economic problem but also a political one,
said the Chinese premier, who put forward five propositions.
Wen said all countries should work together to maintain peace and stability,
as well social stability at home, to create a convenient environment for poverty
reduction work.
He also called on the establishment of a new international political and
economic order that is fair and rational, adding that "all countries should
respect each other and co-exist in peace politically, and work to achieve common
development on the basis of equality and mutual benefits economically.''
"The vast number of developing countries, in particular, should be able to
share the fruits of prosperity from global development in a fair and equitable
way,'' he said.
Thirdly, developed countries have a duty and responsibility to provide the
developing nations with greater support.
During the current process of economic globalization, developing countries
are in a disadvantaged position, Wen said. Developed countries should give more
support to developing ones, further relieving their debts, speeding up
technology transfers and getting rid of trade protectionism.
Being a populous developing country, China is ready to offer help to
international poverty reduction efforts, Wen said. The Chinese Government has
elected to pledge another US$30 million to the Asian Development Fund in
addition to pumping US$50 million into the African Development Fund.
Moreover, the Chinese Government will contribute an extra US$20 million to
the Asia Development Bank to create the "China Special Fund for Poverty
Reduction and Regional Co-operation'' in support of relevant endeavours in the
Asia-Pacific region, he said.
In order to stamp out poverty in developing countries, Wen stressed they
should work hard by themselves as well enhance partnerships with each other to
boost common development.
He said it is also necessary that international organizations, such as the
World Bank and the United Nations, should mobilize and organize more people and
organizations to combat global poverty reduction.
"It is necessary to sum up and popularize the poverty relief experience of
developing countries and encourage both the North and the South to move together
to honour their commitments to the Millennium Development Goals and the Monterry
Census,'' Wen said.
Saying that China has done a good job in scaling up its efforts to reduce
poverty over the past 20 years, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said the
whole world has much to learn from China and at the same time China can learn
from the world as well.
According to Wen, China has lifted more than 200 million people from poverty
since it had adopted "large-scale, consistent and productive programmes of
poverty alleviation and rural development'' in the early 1980s.
After Wen's keynote speech, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Tanzanian
President Benjamin William Mkapa and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Begum Khaleda
Zia also made speeches at the conference to exchange experiences on scaling up
the reduction of poverty in their own countries.
More than 1,000 people, mostly from developing countries, attended the
conference and will examine nine months worth of development research including
100 case studies, a dozen field visit reports and results from extensive global
discussions, said a news release of the World Bank.
Co-sponsored by the World Bank and the Chinese Government, the two-day
conference is scheduled to close today.
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