Conquering Poverty

The International Forum on Reform and Opening Up and Poverty Reduction in China was held in Beijing on November 1-2. The event’s theme was International Cooperation on Poverty Reduction: Building a Community With a Shared Future for Humanity. Attended by more than 400 representatives of governments, business, and academia from 51 countries and 11 international organizations, the forum served as a platform for participants to exchange ideas on various issues. Topics discussed included the role of China’s reform and opening up in poverty alleviation, innovative practices in poverty relief in the new era, and world poverty reduction and development. Following is an edited version of attendees’ comments: creasing engagement in the context of global development by being a prominent actor in helping countries dealing with their development challenges. They are sharing lessons of their own journey and supporting countries in seeking their own pathway, principally through the Belt and Road Initiative.

K. V. Kamath, President of the New Development Bank

Today around 700 million people still live in extreme poverty and the UN’S Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGS) target to eliminate poverty in all its forms by 2030 is a challenge which lies ahead. In order to make further progress in achieving poverty reduction, as well as delivering a better life for the world’s poorest citizens, several areas need to be addressed. One of the most critical is a provision of quality infrastructure across all sectors. There is also an urgent need to maintain and renovate existing infrastructure in many countries.

Infrastructure drives economic growth during the investment phase and has a multiplier effect thereafter. It creates long-term productivity gains and facilitates poverty alleviation and job creation. If we want to pursue a poverty reduction agenda where gains are shared by all, it needs to begin with access to quality infrastructure for all.

However, the future landscape for infrastructure is changing rapidly. We stand today at the dawn of a new industrial revolution where technology-led innovation is transforming the way we perceive products, services, and our physical space. These developments will have a material impact on how we perceive and think about poverty alleviation.

The infrastructure that we need to build today, for use over the next several decades, is fundamentally different from what we have built in the past. It is also becoming increasingly apparent that the impact of