2018.09.09
Speech by Dr.Tan Weiping, Deputy Director General of IPRCC
I’m very glad to be here in Hangzhou, a beautiful city, to attend the “WTA · Xianghu Dialogue”. First of all, I’d like to extend, on behalf of the International Poverty Reduction Center in China, my congratulations on the successful hosting of this dialogue as well as the release of “WTA World Best Practice in Poverty Alleviation through Tourism 2018”.
Poverty alleviation through tourism is an integral part of China’s battle against poverty, and an important driving force behind the building of a comprehensively prosperous society in all respects. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has attached great importance to poverty alleviation through tourism and unveiled a string of related policies to integrate tourism growth with development-oriented poverty alleviation, and comprehensively advance tourism in poverty-stricken areas. In many poor areas, tourism has provided crucial support for their poverty alleviation efforts and is playing an increasingly important role in promoting local socioeconomic development. With the theme of “Poverty Alleviation and Development–Shared Responsibilities of World Tourism Community”, this dialogue has invited representatives from domestic and international departments and organizations engaged in tourism and poverty alleviation as well as authoritative experts to discuss and exchange the practices and experiences in poverty alleviation through tourism and contribute to a complete working mechanism and the sustainable development of poverty alleviation through tourism in China. It is an premier event in both the tourism sector and the poverty alleviation field. In addition, it offers a good platform for the exchanging, sharing and mutual learning of tourism-based poverty reduction experiences between domestic and foreign participants, and is of great significance to facilitate international sharing and exchanging of poverty reduction knowledge and experiences.
With the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the international poverty reduction cause has ushered in a new era when poverty reduction knowledge cooperation and sharing has become an increasingly important area, as well as the most robust and promising area of international cooperation. As the world’s sole platform specialized in poverty reduction research, training, knowledge sharing exchanges and cooperation, IPRCC has always put knowledge sharing, exchange and cooperation in international poverty reduction high on its agenda. In recent years, IPRCC has been working with international organizations, including the World Bank, on actively exploring and promoting poverty reduction knowledge and experience sharing based on poverty alleviation cases, with a focus on the technical reference value of cases and duplication of practical experience. Today, we jointly released the “WTA World Best Practice in Poverty Alleviation through Tourism 2018” with the WTA and the World Bank. By collecting, analyzing and sharing different models and practices of poverty alleviation through tourism both at home and aboard, we are able to extract and summarize the effective and replicable ones. On the one hand, it is a summary and demonstration of China’s typical cases of targeted poverty alleviation and a key part of “telling Chinese stories”, and it helps to form Chinese experience and lay the foundation for sharing Chinese experience with the international community. On the other hand, it will facilitate China to draw upon international experiences, well combine Chinese and global poverty reduction experiences, further improve China’s tourism-based poverty reduction mechanism, and help China win its battle against poverty. Meanwhile, it is important as it also paves the way for more extensive international exchanges and cooperation between China and the international community in poverty reduction through tourism.
Ladies and gentlemen,
IPRCC is ready to work with the WTA, the World Bank and other organizations to focus on the core issues in poverty reduction and development through tourism, to propel the internationalization of Chinese poverty reduction experiences and the localization of international poverty reduction experiences. Through communication and sharing, we will jointly build a more open and effective platform for international exchanges and cooperation so as to make contributions to the poverty reduction cause and push forward the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Finally, I wish the dialogue a complete success.