Over the past 40 years, China has made great strides in eliminating poverty. The country is now joining forces with Rome-Based UN agencies to gain further insight into global poverty alleviation strategies. CGTN's Zhang He has the story.

Global poverty continues to fall rapidly. But more than 800 million people around the world still struggle for the most basic human needs, and live on less than 1.25 US dollar a day. It is a big challenge to reach the Sustainable Development Goals set by United Nations.

BENJAMIN DAVIS UN FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION "The SDG one calls for the elimination of extreme poverty in 12 years, in 2030. It will be very difficult to achieve that goal of eliminating poverty in the world. But I think government and international organization can make great strides in terms of getting us as close as possible to that goal."

Over the past 40 years, China has lifted 700 million people out of poverty, accounting for over 70 percent of poverty reduction globally. The target has been set to eliminate the remaining rural poverty by 2020, a decade ahead of UN's goal.

PAUL WINTERS, ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT "I think the great lesson for the world from China's poverty reduction isn't just policies they had, but the focus on poverty reduction. So the government of China made it very clear that the objective is to reduce poverty. And they look for policies, investment, programmes to achieve that result. That is the biggest lesson I think for the rest of the world "

Meanwhile, China and Rome-based UN Agencies issued a Joint statement, to strengthen their partnership in the fight against poverty. They also launched a campaign to request poverty reduction case studies from around the world in order to facilitate exchanges and enrich their database.

ASHWANI MUTHOO DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT, IFAD "The event today is particularly timely and welcome because it does offer opportunities to share experiences from China, from Rome-based agencies, but also from the participants who are present from the African countries. So we can understand what their experiences are actually on the ground and promoting sustainable and inclusive rural transformation."

ZHANG HE ROME "While poverty reduction has gained global attention, efficiency must be improved through better collaboration. Only in this way can we accelerate progress towards ending poverty and hunger worldwide. ZH, CGTN, Rome."