China sets benchmark in global fight against hunger: WFP head

BEIJING - China has set a benchmark for what the world can achieve in the fight against hunger, and its accomplishment must be replicated in other developing countries, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) Ertharin Cousin said.

Ertharin Cousin made the remarks in an interview with Xinhuanet on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of WFP-China South-South Cooperation Policy Dialogue Tour on Wednesday.

CHINA SETS A BENCHMARK

"China has created significant lessons for the world and established a true benchmark for what the world can achieve," Cousin said.

There are many people in the world having little faith in achieving zero hunger, but China proves them wrong with its remarkable achievements in ending hunger and achieving food security, Cousin said.

"China has transformed from a nation that the world used to say will never feed itself to a country that is now donating financial resources and providing technical and intellectual support to help other governments address challenges of hunger and malnutrition,"she said.

The accomplishment exceeds everyone's expectations, the WFP head acclaimed, noting "China has achieved the goals of increasing food security, and reducing stunting in children from 30 percent two decades ago to less than 10 percent today." Moreover, China has contributed over 100 millions dollars to the WFP to deal with emergencies and address food insecurity in developing countries over the past decade, she added.

REPLICATE CHINA'S ACHIEVEMENT

China's remarkable achievement must be replicated, said Cousin at the opening ceremony of the WFP-China South-South Cooperation Policy Dialogue Tour.

And during the interview, she repeated, "China is my example to the world", highlighting the importance of learning from China in ending hunger and poverty through Trilateral South-South Cooperation.

The policy dialogue tour brings together countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to learn from the Chinese people and government and to take these lessons back home to address the challenges that they are facing, Cousin said.

This is a new type of cooperation between China and the WFP because it is China bringing the knowledge and WFP using its deep field experience and experience in implementing programs to bring in countries from the developing world to China, she said.

It not only involves learning, but also putting into practice the lessons learned in the participants' countries.

With the new cooperation, Cousin hoped to see the development of new strategies for food security and nutrition in these countries.

The policy dialogue tour invited delegations from Kenya, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to visit China's capital Beijing, as well as Anhui and Jiangsu provinces from June 1 to 9.