Chinese authorities on Friday joined hands with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to bolster the country's poverty-relief efforts.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on strategic cooperation between the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and the Gates Foundation, the two sides will work jointly on future strategies, personnel training and experience sharing.
"The signing of the MOU marks a further deepening of cooperation," said Liu Yongfu, head of the poverty reduction regulator, who spoke highly of the foundation's efforts in tackling extreme poverty, diseases and educational inequality.
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"China has lifted more than 700 million people out of poverty in the past decades, but there are still 43.35 million impoverished people, and the fight will only be tougher as it enters the final stage," Liu said.
"China's experience in innovation and its successful track record in poverty alleviation can provide invaluable lessons for other developing countries," said Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation, noting that China is the largest contributor to the UN's Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people in poverty worldwide.
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The foundation is willing to support China through the final stages of its mission to eliminate absolute poverty, and looks forward to helping China continue to play a leading role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, Gates said.
The poverty threshold in China was defined in 2016 as an income below 434 US dollars per person annually, up from 405 US dollars in 2015. In 2016, the country lifted 12.4 million people out of poverty. The country's latest five-year plan (2016-2020) included aspirations to lift everybody in China out of poverty by 2020.
