A group of foreign diplomats in China made a field trip to a rural area in western Hunan Province and held a meeting on local poverty eradication achievements on Nov. 10-11. The delegation organized by MARA comprised 14 foreign diplomats, including the Chilean Ambassador to China, Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to China, the Representative of the WFP China Office, and the IFAD Representative in China. Vice Governor of Hunan Province Sui Zhongcheng met with the delegation. 

Xiangxi Tujiazu&Miaozu Autonomous Prefecture, which is inhabited mostly by minority ethnic groups, was formerly an area suffering abject poverty. Through concerted efforts by all parties, every poverty-stricken county in the prefecture has now been lifted out of poverty, which is quite representative in China’s poverty alleviation efforts. The delegation visited the Camellia Oleifera Industrial Base for Poverty Alleviation in Yongshun County, Shibadong Village in Huayuan County, Changputang Village in Fenghuang County and other places to learn about the process, methods and outcomes of poverty reduction there. 

At the meeting, delegation members commended the systems, policies and measures China has adopted in combating poverty. Chilean Ambassador to China Luis Schmidt Montes said that China had made remarkable achievements in poverty alleviation and he hoped to enhance Sino-Chile cooperation in all fields under the Belt and Road Initiative, poverty relief in particular, to make an even greater contribution to the global fight against poverty. Ernest Mbaimba Ndomahina, Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to China, stressed that Chinese government’s strong leadership and sound strategy played a great role in its anti-poverty campaign and  expressed his wish for further exchange of relevant knowledge and experience between China and Sierra Leone. Qu Sixi, Representative of the WFP China Office, said that China had accumulated successful experience working with international organizations in its poverty reduction efforts and such experience was worth sharing. The Economic Affairs Officer with the German Embassy in China also spoke highly of the Chinese government’s active guidance and support for poverty elimination work, saying it had left a deep impression on him.