Red Star News:
The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting on July 30. During the meeting, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that China should align its efforts to consolidate and expand the achievements in poverty elimination with an emphasis on promoting rural vitalization. To our knowledge, the MOFCOM has introduced numerous commerce-related assistance measures, such as reducing poverty via e-commerce. What will be done next to help extensively promote rural vitalization? Thank you.
Wang Wentao:
I've covered this in my opening remarks. Mr. Qian Keming will further elaborate on your question.
Qian Keming:
As Mr. Wang pointed out in the opening remarks, commerce-related work stretches from urban to rural areas, connects China with the rest of the world, and synergizes production and sales, thus giving it special advantages in poverty alleviation. We have fully leveraged its strengths in this regard by introducing a policy package in five aspects and attracting all sectors of society to actively engage in the work and effectively help develop industries in poverty-stricken areas, boost employment, and increase farmers' incomes.
First, reducing poverty through the e-commerce industry. Currently, the e-commerce industry has become one of the most direct and effective ways to help poor people escape poverty and increase their incomes. The MOFCOM has carried out comprehensive demonstration projects in which e-commerce has been brought to rural areas and covered all national-level poverty-stricken counties across the country. The MOFCOM also organized large e-commerce enterprises to establish public welfare channels on e-commerce poverty alleviation work, and developed rural e-commerce brands. Preliminary statistics show that e-commerce has helped some 7.71 million farmers either start a business or find employment locally. Meanwhile 6.19 million people have seen their incomes increase.
Second, reducing poverty through the housekeeping industry. The housekeeping industry is a small but powerful lever for poverty alleviation work. The MOFCOM has carried out poverty alleviation projects in this regard and built connections between housekeeping firms and national-level poverty-stricken counties. A total of 31 export centers for housekeeping workforces have been established, and more effort has been made in the training of housekeeping staff. The scheme helped employed more than 850,000 people in poverty-stricken areas, thus helping their families step out of poverty.
Third, reducing poverty through the export of labor. Employment channels have been expanded via the export of labor. The MOFCOM has built connections between labor export enterprises and poverty-stricken areas, funneled more resources into these regions, and supported labor in poor areas to work abroad. Over the years, some 146,000 people have been sent abroad to work. Their average annual income exceeded 100,000 yuan, with some even earning 300,000 to 400,000 yuan a year. Hence, those people working abroad can help their whole family emerge from poverty and thus bring an economic boom to the region.
Fourth, reducing poverty through the development of industry, industrial development has expanded the market. The MOFCOM has held a series of events to synergize production and sales, with contracted purchases reaching 42 billion yuan over the years. The MOFCOM also works to reduce poverty through consumption and encourages commodity circulation enterprises across the country to set up booths for poverty alleviation products, which has expanded sales channels for agriproducts. From the 122nd to the 128th Canton Fair, companies from poverty-stricken counties were exempted from a total of 86.69 million yuan in booth expenses, and inked deals worth more than $1.7 billion.
Fifth, reducing poverty through border trade. In this sense, border trade has facilitated poverty alleviation via openness. The MOFCOM has worked proactively to improve policies concerning border trade and promote its diversified development. This has reduced poverty for some 500,000 people in the border regions and helped increase their incomes. A three-year action plan on paired assistance has been carried out in which 24 national-level economic development zones in eastern China now cooperate with 19 economic cooperation zones in either border or cross-border regions. In this way, high-quality development of the economy in border regions has been better facilitated.
As China has secured a complete victory in the battle against extreme poverty and kicked off a new chapter toward rural vitalization, the MOFCOM will continue to make coordinated efforts and make commercial resources more accessible at the community level. Just now, Mr. Wang mentioned that the outreach of commercial resources should be expanded to the community level in three aspects. The MOFCOM will improve the circulation of commodities, expand openness and cooperation, and boost employment so as to align efforts to consolidate and expand the achievements in poverty elimination with efforts to promote rural vitalization. In terms of improving commodity circulation, the MOFCOM will strengthen the establishment of a three-tier logistics system at the village, township, and county levels in poor areas, improve trunk circulation networks for agriproducts, and precisely synergize production and sales. A project which boosts agricultural development through e-commerce will also be carried out. In terms of openness and cooperation, the MOFCOM will improve the assistance programs of the Canton Fair, promote the on-the-spot processing of imported goods in border trade, and facilitate the relocation of the processing trade. The MOFCOM will also launch a campaign to introduce hundreds of enterprises to border regions. An open and cooperative platform will be built for regions that have shaken off poverty. In terms of boosting employment, the MOFCOM will launch a campaign that will help farmers shed poverty through the housekeeping industry. Regional brands for housekeeping labor will be built. The MOFCOM will continue to help export labor and promote stable employment for people who have shaken off poverty. All these tasks require us to further enhance the economic vitality and sustain impetus for further growth in poor areas, and keep the smooth economic circulation between urban and rural areas so that poor regions can be better integrated into the new pattern of development and make new contributions to comprehensive rural vitalization. Thank you.
