HARARE - Developing countries need to learn from the invaluable experience of countries such as China in eliminating extreme poverty, International Labor Organization (ILO) Director-General Gilbert Houngbo said here Monday.
Speaking to Xinhua in an interview on the sidelines of a meeting on the Global Coalition for Social Justice in Zimbabwe, the former Togolese Prime Minister said China offers a practical example where developing countries such as Zimbabwe could learn measures and strategies to eradicate poverty.
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Already, China has contributed immensely to global social justice through its people-centered policies that have seen it lift millions of Chinese people out of extreme poverty over the years, Houngbo said.
Developing countries, he said, should therefore emulate China's deep commitment to poverty eradication.
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"For a country like Zimbabwe or any other developing country, they need to see the elements where they can learn from China and discuss and negotiate. At the end of the day, we need to be ourselves but learn from the expertise of countries such as China and India that have gone out of poverty recently. They have fresher experiences," Houngbo said.
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Houngbo hailed the important contributions that China has made to global poverty reduction efforts, noting that the Millennium Development Goal to reduce extreme global poverty by half was achieved before the 2015 deadline due to China's and India's contributions.
He said China proved its unwavering commitment to eradicating inequality by joining the Global Coalition for Social Justice.
The Global Coalition for Social Justice is a partnership between ILO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, and countries, workers' organizations, and employers' organizations from around the world.
