21 Sept 2004 |
ChinaDaily.com
GN3 Editorial Comment:
With the world's largest population, China
faces an enormous task in managing development to
eradicate hunger and poverty, exclusion and
injustice. In the article below, a Chinese official
links poverty eradication to the global aspirations
for peace and human development and recognizes the
importance of collaboration between government, the
business sector and civil society in achieving these
objectives.
A top Chinese official in charge of
poverty alleviation on Monday said poverty reduction
presses for a solution from both individual countries
and the international community.
"Poverty is born out of political, economic, social
and historical factors. The problem gets even worse in
an irrational international political and economic
order amidst unbalanced development," Liu Jian,
minister in charge of poverty alleviation in the
Chinese State Council, told a world leaders' meeting
on action against hunger and poverty, held here Monday
afternoon.
Liu said hunger and poverty had become a global
problem menacing world peace and human development.
Liu put forth three prepositions of the Chinese
government on the elimination of hunger and poverty.
They include:
-- First, joining hands to foster a favorable
international environment for poverty reduction.
"In the political field, the purposes and principles
of the Charter of the United Nations and universally
recognized norms of international law must be observed
in maintaining world peace and stability. In the
economic field, efforts should be made to formulate
fair, reasonable, open and transparent international
rules for world trade, investment and finance so that
developing countries can have their fair share of
development dividend," Liu said.
-- Second, taking up "our respective responsibilities
and obligations" while boosting collaboration.
Liu said developing countries need to work out poverty
reduction strategies in light of their own situation
and change the state of underdevelopment through
self-reliance and hard work.
"Developed nations, on the other hand, are duty-bound
to render more assistance to their developing
counterparts, making good their commitments on
financial aid, technology transfer, debt relief and
market access in particular," he said.
He said international organizations must play a
greater role in the global campaign against poverty,
pressing for implementation of follow-up actions of
relevant international conferences and exploring new
ways to better support the global efforts on poverty
reduction.
-- Third, mobilizing resources for the elimination of
poverty.
Liu said the roles of government, the business sector
and the civil society should be given full play and
complement one another in poverty reduction. "All
available resources should be mobilized and diverse
modalities of collaboration be explored through
extensive dialogue and consultations."
Heads of state and government from nearly 60 countries
were among those who attended the half-day meeting on
the eradication of hunger and poverty, jointly
organized by Brazil, France, Chile and Spain, and
under the auspices of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Internet Source: Link to Article
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