From November 13 to 17, the 2023 ICA-ACFSMC Training Course on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development Through Co-operatives was successfully held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, guided by the International Cooperative Alliance and sponsored by China Co-op.
Some honorary guests attended the inauguration, including Cong Shan, Minister of International Cooperation Department of China Co-op; Zhang Jian, Deputy Director of China Co-op Zhejiang Branch; Xu Qingyun, Asian-African Department of Foreign Affairs Office of Zhejiang Provincial People's Government; and Xu Baofeng, Deputy Secretary of the CPC ZJIET Committee. More than 30 representatives of the cooperatives from 10 countries participated in the training, namely, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Pakistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Bangladesh and China. The opening ceremony was presided over by Wang Chunqing, a member of the CPC ZJIET Committee and the director of the school affairs office.
Cong Shan, on behalf of China Co-op, extended a warm welcome to the participants, reviewed and summarized the development achievements of China Co-op and the four characteristics of China's poverty alleviation experience. He pointed out that poverty eradication is a common challenge and common mission facing mankind today and he hoped that through the cooperatives, people can share experience in poverty reduction and development for the mutual benefits and common development of China and South Asian countries, contributing more positive energy to world peace and development.
Xu Qingyun said in his speech that Zhejiang Foreign Affairs Office has always adhered to the full cooperation with the supply and marketing cooperative institutions, giving full play to the advantages of foreign affairs resources and channels to constantly create new highlights of supply and marketing cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. He believes that by holding this training course, the cooperation between Zhejiang and South Asian countries shall be further promoted in various fields of poverty reduction and social development and the agricultural industry chain shall be jointly built up to work for the happiness of the peoples.
In his speech, Xu Baofeng introduced the ZJIET achievements in the comprehensive reform of the three-in-one agricultural cooperatives, the training system of rural agricultural talents and the brand effect of the rural revitalization social services. He hopes that by hosting this training program, the exchange and cooperation between ZJIET and the International Cooperative Alliance shall be strengthened and the fruitful results of their practical cooperation shall be anticipated.
In the five-day training and exchange activities, sessions of themed lectures, country reports, observation and training, research and practice, completion reports, summary discussions, and so on were rich in contents and remarkable in results.
In the expert lecture session, Xu Mingfeng, Director of the International Cooperation Department of China Co-op, focused on the poverty alleviation practice and cooperative system in respective of functional positioning of cooperatives, poverty alleviation measures, and experience summary. Mr. Nazarudin from the Malaysian National Cooperation & Promotion Society shared the important role played by the Malaysian cooperatives in promoting socio-economic development. He also introduced the measures taken by the Malaysian National Co-op for its sustainable development in five dimensions, namely, economics, society, environment, technology and geopolitics. Mr.Sita Ram Kaphle, chairman of the Royal Nepal Multi-Purpose Cooperative Co., LTD., introduced the Nepalese government's poverty reduction policy and the specific measures taken by the Nepal Cooperative Bank to reduce poverty among its members. Li Qizheng, Secretary-General of the International Silk Alliance, elaborated the important role of mulberry silk in poverty reduction and income increase in agriculture from four dimensions, including the development history, industrial characteristics, development status and development direction of global silk industry.
During the country report session, participants from eight countries shared the measures of their countries for poverty reduction and rural development, the role of cooperatives, and challenges. Through group discussions, they learned from each other and jointly discussed the problems encountered in their work and their ways of tackling them. The sharing provided high-quality cases and solutions for countries to eliminate poverty, promote sound economic development and new rural construction.
During the course, the participants went to Sericulture and Tea Research Institute of Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the training base of the ZJIET Digital Craftsman College, Alibaba and so on for the practice session of the training, learning about tea making and savoring, rural e-commerce, rural cultural tourism and topics of the like. At Alibaba, the trainees sufficiently experienced the innovation and development in China's digital economy by visiting new achievements and technology applications in Alibaba's e-commerce, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and so on. During the meeting, the two sides also exchanged views on the needs and challenges of agricultural cooperatives in digital management, e-commerce sales, and agricultural product traceability, injecting new vitality and providing new opportunities for agricultural modernization and digital transformation in the South Asian countries.
In the closing ceremony, Xu Mingfeng, director of the Foreign Economic Affairs Office of the International Cooperation Department of China Co-op, summed up the training. He briefly reviewed the overall content of the training, and hoped that the participants would take it as a new start for fastening friendly ties with China, making new contributions to the joint efforts in agricultural poverty reduction and sustainable development. All the participants from 10 countries completed the training courses and were awarded a certificate of completion.
This year is the 10th anniversary of China's Belt and Road Initiatives. As the world is in a hastening once-in-a-hundred-years change, this training is an answer to the development expectations of agricultural cooperatives in the South Asian countries. Adhering to the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, it aims to build a platform for exchanges between agricultural cooperatives in China and South Asia. We will earnestly promote the implementation of cooperative projects between China and the South Asian countries in the fields of economy, trade, poverty reduction, agriculture and education and will make active contributions to further promoting the high-quality development of the International Cooperative Alliance and firmly building a community with a shared future for the mankind.
