China and the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) commemorate 40 years of collaboration

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Yu Weiping stated that over the past 40 years, China and IFAD have shared the same goals of eliminating rural poverty and promoting agricultural and rural development, working together to innovate and implement best practices. IFAD has collaborated on China's agenda focusing on agriculture, farmers and rural areas. China has also contributed actively to IFAD’s rural development objectives at the global level. China and IFAD have become partners in multiple areas, and set a model of win-win cooperation in agriculture and rural development. President Xi Jinping's global development initiative shares many priorities consistent with IFAD’s mandate on agricultural transformation, rural development, and food security.

Facing the future, China looks forward to the solid partnership in order to promote China's rural revitalization, poverty reduction and rural development and contribute to global agricultural development.

China welcomes IFAD's active participation in the Global Development Initiative to make new contributions to China's improved economic and social development, to the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Gilbert Houngbo expressed that the cooperation between China and IFAD has achieved remarkable results and effectively supported the poverty elimination and development of China's agriculture and rural areas. China has become one of the largest contributors to IFAD, a highly active member of the IFAD Executive Board, a staunch supporter of IFAD’s institutional reform and a champion of South-South Cooperation. IFAD has benefited greatly from the cooperation between the two sides and will continue to firmly support China's sustainable development. IFAD supports the continued close cooperation adapted to the evolving contexts; strengthening cooperation in strategic engagement and policy dialogue, partnership building;, knowledge sharing and South-South cooperation; andcontribute to the global development agenda.

Ambassador Guang Defu, Permanent Representative to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture, Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China, and other guests reviewed the history and fruitful results of cooperation between China and IFAD from their perspectives, affirming the positive role played by bilateral cooperation in helping China eliminate rural poverty, and believing that the cooperation between the two sides provides a useful reference for international poverty reduction and rural development. The event also released a commemorative publication "Forty Years of Working Together to Promote Rural Poverty Reduction and Development", jointly compiled by the Ministry of Finance and IFAD.

Founded in 1977 with 177 member countries, IFAD is one of the three United Nations agencies in the field of food and agriculture, and is the world's only International Financial Institution dedicated to agricultural development, rural transformation and food security.  China officially joined IFAD in 1980. Up to now, IFAD has carried out 33 loan projects in China, covering 22 provinces and regions, benefiting 20 million smallholder farmers.