China's poverty eradication efforts create new wonders in human history: Bangladeshi minister

DHAKA, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's poverty eradication efforts have created new wonders in human history, a Bangladeshi minister said.

Addressing a webinar titled "Poverty Eradication: Experiences from Bangladesh and China" Wednesday, Bangladeshi Education Minister Dipu Moni said, "China has achieved new wonders in raising (more than) 700 million people out of poverty."

Since its reform and opening up in 1978, China has lifted 770 million rural residents out of poverty, showed official data.

According to the World Bank's poverty line, poverty reduction in China represents 70 percent of the world's total, achieving the target set by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule.

"While other countries can't copy everything, we can learn from Chinese experiences at least," Moni said at the webinar, which was organized by Association of Bangladesh-China Alumni (ABCA) and attended by scholars from the two countries.

On the traditional friendly relations between China and Bangladesh, Moni said, "Our friendship now encompasses all spheres of life."

She said China is immensely contributing to Bangladesh's socioeconomic development. "China is now our very, very important development partner."

The minister said poverty eradication is important to the whole world, therefore it is among both the millennium development goals and the sustainable development goals.

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming said at the webinar there are currently about 700 million people living in extreme poverty in the world, which means that their daily living expenses are less than 1.90 U.S. dollars.

He said China actively carries out international cooperation in poverty reduction, provides assistance to developing countries within its capacity, and is a powerful promoter of poverty reduction in the world.

Over the years, China has assisted 120 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbeans and Oceania in the construction of farms, agricultural technology demonstration centers, and other projects.

Binayak Sen, director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), said 2000-2020 is an important period in China's poverty eradication.

"We have to study this remarkable poverty eradication period of China," he said.

China's success in economic development and poverty eradication offers new lessons to rest of the world, said the expert.