The Africa-China Poverty Reduction and Development Conference
The Africa-China Poverty Reduction and Development Conference took place on Monday and Tuesday this week [1st and 2nd Nov] in Addis Ababa. Co-hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC) and the Government of Ethiopia, the conference brought together delegates from African countries, China and emerging economies like Vietnam to explore poverty reduction and development experiences, and to consider ‘development as transformation’ approaches to the reduction of poverty, accelerating growth and achieving the MDGs. The key objectives of the meeting included contributing new elements and approaches towards finding breakthrough strategies for poverty alleviation and accelerating growth in Africa. The themes included: Development as Transformation, Towards a High Growth Africa; Transformational Lessons, The Chinese Experience in Reducing Poverty; A Food Secure Continent? Africa as the Next Agricultural Power?; Enhancing Societal Capabilities and Social Cohesion; and Emerging Economies, New Development Partnerships in A Globalizing World.
Opening speeches were given by Helen Clark, the UNDP Administrator, and Zheng Wenkai, Vice-Minister, the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, the head of the Chinese delegation. Zheng Wenkai said China was keen to support the efforts of Africa to alleviate poverty and the sharing of China’s experiences could provide a useful and additional window in China’s growing co-operation with Africa. Helen Clark said developing countries needed to put in place appropriate development policies to alleviate poverty. They could draw valuable lessons from China on how to beat poverty and achieve the MDGs.
Prime Minister Meles gave a keynote address in the opening session, emphasizing that Ethiopia had put in place a successful strategy to enable the public to fight against poverty. He said there were two development alternatives. The first was increasing productivity and making those who benefited pay higher taxes and so distribute the benefits. The other was to make development fair overall, and this was where Ethiopia was registering the results. Africa, he said, could draw experiences from other areas, but the key to its development must be based on its own policies. The continent had no greater enemy than poverty. The biggest killer disease in Africa was not malaria or AIDS, it was poverty. “It kills and maims millions both directly and through its facilitative role for other killer diseases.” The Prime Minister said Africans needed to learn more from those who had succeeded in fighting poverty as China had, particularly over the last three decades. According to the World Bank well over 400 million people have been lifted out of poverty, and of these three quarters are in China. It was therefore natural to try to learn how the Chinese did it “with a view to refining our own strategies to combat poverty” said the Prime Minister.
There was no disagreement among speakers or participants that poverty reduction was long overdue. Many took the view that China’s advances in this respect deserved recognition and should provide useful lessons for Africa’s still fledging efforts. There was also considerable agreement that there could be no single orthodox solution to the problem. Africa should lean neither to the Washington nor the Beijing consensus. Africa should learn from not copy the approaches of others, but academics and policy practitioners alike commended the South-South dialogue and cooperation.