Trade can help reduce poverty in Africa

Addressing a forum on fighting poverty and common development at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, late last month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China and African countries should work together to eradicate poverty for future generations. He also mapped out five priority areas - the alignment of development strategies, peace and security, public health, human resources, and coordination in regional and international affairs - for future China-AU cooperation.

President Xi Jinping's new book Up and Out of Poverty was central to the debate at the China-Africa High-Level Dialogue and Think Tank Forum. Many African participants expect to draw inspiration from the book, which is a collection of speeches and articles by Xi when he was Party chief of Ningde prefecture in East China's Fujian province nearly three decades ago.

The prefecture's per capita GDP was just $198 when Xi arrived there in 1988. Last year, its per capita GDP had reached $8,000. Ningde's success offers a glimpse of how China has lifted more than 700 million people out of poverty in just four decades - targeted poverty alleviation.