Excellency Mr. Wang Zhengpu, Administrator of the National Rural Revitalization Administration of China,

Excellency Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN,

Excellency Noel Felongco, Secretary of the National Anti-poverty Commission of the Philippines,

Excellency Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning. It is my great pleasure to attend the 15th China-ASEAN Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction. First and foremost, on behalf of the Chinese Mission to ASEAN, I wish today’s Forum a full success.

Poverty eradication has long been a dream of the Chinese people. Over the past century since the Communist Party of China was founded, it has remained committed to its mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It has united and led the Chinese people in an enduring and arduous struggle for a better life.

Last February, President Xi Jinping solemnly declared to the rest of the world that China had achieved a complete victory over extreme poverty. The 98.99 million rural population living below the current poverty line all shook off poverty. China has put an end to poverty over entire regions and extreme poverty. It also means China has achieved the goal of poverty alleviation set in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ten years ahead of schedule and made important contributions to the cause of global poverty reduction.

Poverty alleviation is also the common goal of people in all countries including ASEAN. As close neighbors and partners, China and ASEAN have always regarded cooperation in poverty reduction as a priority in our cooperation. For instance, the China-ASEAN Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction, the ASEAN Plus Three Village Officials’ Exchange Program, the East Asia Poverty Reduction Cooperation Pilot Project, among other initiatives, have been effective platforms for China and ASEAN to share policy and experience, conduct demonstration projects, explore cooperation models and enhance capacity building.

Traditionally, the areas of cooperation focused on agricultural irrigation, bridge and road construction, personnel training and medical services. Now it has expanded to economy and trade, tourism, green energy, business-driven poverty alleviation, poverty monitoring and evaluation and environmental governance. These cooperation initiatives have powerfully boosted efforts of poverty reduction and rural development and played a key role in the earlier realization of SDGs in the region.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This year marks the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations. Over the past 30 years, China and ASEAN have worked side by side to tide over difficulties and bring about enormous progress in our relations. The China-ASEAN strategic partnership has been enriched with great achievements in political and security, economic and socio-cultural pillars.

Having been halfway through the implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, ASEAN has made remarkable progress in its community building of the three pillars and is set to press ahead at full steam. And for China’s part, at the historic moment of celebrating the centenary of the CPC, we are embarking on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way.

Therefore, we are happy to see that China and ASEAN have a lot to offer to each other on the way forward. It is our shared goals and strong growth momentum that will create fresh opportunities for us to build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. Going forward, deepened cooperation in poverty reduction and sustainable development deserve to be prioritized on the cooperation agenda.

I would like to propose several key areas where future China-ASEAN cooperation in poverty reduction might focus.

First, anti-pandemic cooperation. Bridging the “vaccine divide” and defeating the pandemic at an early date are key to preventing people from succumbing to or returning to poverty due to COVID-19. We should continue to strengthen cooperation in public health, including pandemic prevention and control, and implement the China-ASEAN public health cooperation initiative. We should also work to build the APT reserve of essential medical supplies, as part of our efforts to enhance regional public health capability.

China will continue to play its role as a major responsible country by providing ASEAN countries with vaccines to the best of our capability and assisting the set-up of a regional vaccine production center in Indonesia. These endeavors will help make vaccines more accessible and affordable, which will eventually help people of ASEAN countries mitigate the shock of the pandemic.

The second area is post-pandemic recovery. Development holds the key to poverty reduction, and cooperation is a powerful engine for development. Data of the World Bank shows the Belt and Road Initiative will help lift 7.6 million people in partner countries out of extreme poverty and 32 million people out of moderate poverty. Therefore, we should better synergize the BRI and the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework, among other development plans. More also needs to be done to strengthen cooperation in trade, connectivity and people-to-people exchanges. Green and sustainable development philosophy shall drive the post-pandemic recovery, thus injecting strong impetus to the restorative and resilient growth and a better life for the people.

Third, it is important to create new models of cooperation. A natural shift from poverty alleviation to rural revitalization is an important takeaway from China’s experience. Today’s forum, under the theme of “Rural Development and Sustainable Poverty Reduction”, will witness discussions on ecological restoration in poor areas, micro-finance in poverty alleviation and e-commerce in rural areas. Fresh ideas are to be generated to inspire new models of cooperation.

I hope China and ASEAN will have more dialogue in experience and policy, tap the potential of cooperation and create new sectors of cooperation in poverty reduction. China is also ready to fund projects in this regard through the ASEAN-China Cooperation Fund and other mechanisms.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I will conclude my remarks by saying that poverty relief and rural revitalization remain a common challenge for China and ASEAN in the long run. We should work hand in hand to strive for more progress in the regional and global cause of poverty reduction and boost the building of a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

Thank you for your kind attention.