Ladies and gentlemen and friends,
 
Through out history, humanity has repeatedly overcome its greatest challenges and ideological differences through its focus on mutual survival and grounded by mutual cooperation and breakthroughs in innovation.
 
Our current global challenge requires the same resolve and ambition.
 
What is certainly much needed now globally - are well designed, pragmatic, evidence based and replicable models that have lessons learned that can be adapted and adopted to respond to local needs around the world.
 
There is so much to share and learn between policymakers, academia, community organizations and private sector – between countries and learning both from successes and failures.
 
We are also deeply conscious that in South-South Cooperation efforts - on the need to fully acknowledge and respond to the local development context and challenges while harnessing the potential of local capacities, technologies and assets – for longer term resilience and sustainability. Models of poverty alleviation must be dynamic and constantly evolving in tandem with the progress or the lack of development.
 
More than ever before, global cooperation and south-south exchanges are critical if we are to be able to accelerate progress towards the SDGs.
 
For our discussion today, allow me to share a short glimpse of UNDP’s experience on poverty alleviation in China and some lessons have observed.
 
In close alignment to the national five-year development plans, for more than four decades - UNDP has been working closely with the Ministry of Commerce’s China International Centre for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE) on poverty alleviation and sustainable development programmes.
 
Our joint collaboration has focused on exploring innovative ideas, advocacy and capacity building, facilitating international best practices and evidence-based approaches in pilot demonstration sites. 
 
As all of you are aware, Nanping is the location where the Technical Task Force approach for poverty alleviation was first proposed and rolled out 24 years ago.
 
UNDP’s engagement with the TTF began in 2006 through a partnership with CICETE and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
 
Together, we have deployed 150,000 highly qualified science and technology commissioners to project sites in more than 30 rural localities across China.
 
Our focus was on encouraging rural farmers and cooperatives to apply green agricultural technologies and promote high-quality and efficient development of agriculture to contribute to poverty eradication in rural China.
 
In just four years, the project was estimated to have benefited more than 8 million rural families.
 
We have come a long way since then and since 2005, we have been working with CICETE and the International Poverty Reduction Centre in China to facilitate global exchanges of experience on poverty eradication.
 
In the past decade, UNDP’s engagement in rural development and poverty eradication continues to evolve in tandem with the development trajectory in China.
 
For example in close collaboration with CICETE, we have transitioned from the provision of microfinance in rural areas in the 1980s to digital finance and technological adoption to support smart agriculture and nature-based solutions by rural farmers.
 
As poverty alleviation at scale and sustainability requires a whole-of-society approach, UNDP and CICETE’s interventions are increasingly undertaken with strategic development partners encompassing academic institutions, the private sector, local community groups, youth organizations, and entrepreneurs.
 
This is especially evident and critically required when addressing deeply entrenched challenges that are systemic.
 
For example, we have also jointly explored targeted innovative approaches to ensure rural women farmers and women-owned businesses and enterprises are fully supported by leveraging the power of digitization to ensure equal access to financial and technical information and support.  
 
We are all aware that the journey to ensure we leave no one behind to a future that is inclusive, resilient and sustainable - is challenging, complex and continuously evolving.
 
There is no end of learning. On that note, I am delighted to be here with all of you and to benefit from the views, experience and insights from all the experts and practitioners present here today as we put our minds and collective efforts to accelerate actions towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
 
Thank you very much.

Thank you!