by Zafar Hussain

 

The Chinese public and private institutions play a key role in poverty eradication, and China has set an example for all world to follow while Pakistani experts are also carefully watching the Chinese government’s measures, and they are very keen to learn from this experience, said Mr. Badar uz Zaman, Commercial Counsellor of Pakistan Embassy in Beijing.

 

Today is China’s seventh National Poverty Relief Day, a date that is also observed globally as International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

 

During the last four decades, more than 700 million people have been taken out of poverty in China, due to the active measures of the Chinese government and at the end of this year China would successfully complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all aspect of life, said Badar uz Zaman.

 

“It is estimated that around 100 million people worldwide could fall into extreme poverty again due to COVID-19” he added.

 

He stated that in the far-flung areas, provided strong support for the farmer's community, and now they have access to the e-commerce sites, they can sell their products through those websites and making much money. similarly, there is a lot of emphasis on the skill development of the Chinese people from poor provinces like Guizhou, Tibet, and Xinjiang.

 

“China is one of the fastest-growing nations. There has been increasing in GDP on regular basis, and growing income is giving an opportunity to the middle class and the poor segment of the society, to get benefit from it”, he told.

 

Talking to China Economic Net he said that there is a focus on the high-end industry, like Information Technology and cloud computing. And there is a built-up of infrastructure in those areas where there is a lot of investment going in and the people from those poor areas are getting employment opportunities.

 

“First China has developed infrastructural even in small and the far-flung areas, then focused on agriculture by providing subsidies to farmers and the poor people across the country. there is also one approach of urbanization They relocate the poor people to the cities, that increased the income level that is far higher than what they were getting in the villages” he stated.

 

“By learning Chinese experience, Pakistan needs to focus on its GDP growth. We have been experiencing strong growth in the services sector in Pakistan. But still, there is a long way to go we need to focus on the supply chain, and more efficient services sector where more and more poor people can be employed. Pakistan needs to focus on their literacy, as well as the technical and vocational education that would help poverty eradication” Badar told CEN.

 

He mentioned that targeted subsidy programs like the Ehsaas Program and Benazir Income Support Program support the poorest of the poor. So basically, the Pakistani Ehsaas Support Program is being appreciated by all the multinational institutions and many developed countries. And this has also provided an opportunity to survive in this difficult time of COVID-19. Kamyab Jawan program provided an opportunity for youngsters to start new businesses.

 

Badar stated that “45% of the Pakistani population is related to the agriculture sector, but the contribution of agriculture in Pakistani GDP is less than 20%. we see that there is surplus manpower. Pakistan has more than 150 million subscribers of 3G and 4G, and out of that almost 75 million are using at least 3G services. So, there had been great progress in peer to peer lending online platforms that Pakistani can learn from Chinese experience”.

 

He said that in the first phase, we were focusing more on energy and infrastructure. But now, in the second phase, there is more focus on the social development and the projects that are closer to the masses like health and education sectors where Chinese companies like He Eyecare, Shenyang Biotech, and Neusoft are investing and playing an important role in alleviation poverty in the society.