China-South Asian nations set up center to support poverty alleviation programmes

BEIJING, The China-South Asian Countries Poverty Alleviation and Cooperative Development Centre was officially set up at the South-West University of Chongqing, China to pool resources and exchange ideas for supporting socio-economic development and poverty alleviation programmes in the South Asian countries

The launching ceremony was attended by Wu Jianghao, Assistant Foreign Minister of China, Cai Yunge, Vice Mayor of Chongqing and Ms. Li Yue, the Supervising Officer of National Administration for Rural Revitalization.

Ambassadors of five participating South Asian countries to China including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka also attended the event.

The establishment of China-South Asian Countries Poverty Alleviation and Cooperative Development Centre was unanimously agreed at the meeting of Foreign Ministers of China and five South Asian countries virtually held on 27 April 2021.

The Centre aims to pool resources and exchange ideas for supporting socio-economic development and poverty alleviation programmes in the South Asian countries.

In his speech, Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Jianghao said that China was willing to share its poverty alleviation experiences and best practices with South Asian nations.

He said that the Centre as an important platform to establishing poverty eradication demonstration projects in South-Asian countries and for developing sound bilateral ties for economic development of the entire region.

Lauding China’s support for establishing the Centre, Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque said that poverty alleviation constituted a serious challenge for the South Asian countries.

He underscored that the Centre would not only enable South-Asian nations to extricate poor people from the web of poverty but also galvanise ongoing bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and China in this area.