Chief of UN body says China’s poverty eradication worth learning

Published:July 23,2022

Photo released by the United Nations on July 23, 2021 shows a portrait of Collen Vixen Kelapile, the new president of the UN Economic and Social Council. (Mark Garten/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

China has set an example on poverty eradication, particularly amid intersecting global crises, United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) President Collen Vixen Kelapile has said.

The chief of ECOSOC, the world body’s central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, spoke with Xinhua in an interview on the sidelines of the high-level political forum on sustainable development that concluded last week.

“Poverty is everywhere,” Kelapile said. “China has a good experience in dealing with poverty … there’s a lot to learn from China in that area.”

“The goal of eradicating poverty is everybody’s objective and it’s already part of the 2030 Agenda,” said Kelapile, adding that to hear success stories of countries that have done well in poverty eradication “is something that should inspire any other nation.”

A villager picks edible fungi at a greenhouse in HongniyaVillage in Wulian County of Rizhao, east China’s Shandong Province, June 17, 2022. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Report 2022, released on July 7, estimated that an additional 75 to 95 million people could fall into extreme poverty this year.

Some countries are “still struggling with the eradication of poverty,” and global poverty “has gotten even worse in many of our countries, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic with millions more (that) got thrown into really deeper poverty.”

Besides the lingering pandemic, the situation is aggravated due to the convergence of increased fighting and the long-term climate crisis, among other challenges, which could further jeopardize the SDG blueprint, as the new report indicated.

Children learn paper-cutting at a relocation site for poverty alleviation in Xingye County, south China’s Guangxi ZhuangAutonomous Region, Jan. 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming)

The Chinese leadership announced earlier last year that absolute poverty had been eradicated in the world’s most populous country, Kelapile noted.

“The experiences that China brings to this subject are very key for us to learn,” said Kelapile. “This can only happen when there is truly committed leadership.”

“It’s something that we need to congratulate the (Chinese) leadership for delivering for the Chinese people and hope that all of us can learn from that achievement,” he said. 

Xinhua