World Bank supports G20's task force on global alliance against poverty: official

The World Bank supports the G20's task force for a global alliance against hunger and poverty, and calls on the international community to act in concert to do more in tackling the issues, said a senior official of the bank in Beijing recently.

The G20 Summit in Brazil features a task force for a global alliance against hunger and poverty, and the World Bank group has introduced a comprehensive set of initiatives aimed at tackling urgent issues of poverty and hunger.

Axel Van Trotsenburg, senior managing director of the World Bank, said the bank fully supports the Brazilian initiative to battle hunger.

"He chose the topic of combating hunger. We very much support this. I always keep on reminding people that 50 years ago the world community decided to eradicate hunger within ten years, and that was in 1974. We actually failed. Today, we have about 750 million people still suffering hunger. That's one in 11 globally. It is one in five in Africa. We believe that there's an unacceptable state of affairs. I think it was a very, I think, strong signal by the G20 presidency of Brazil to say, look, we as an international community have to do better and we have all to act in concert to do more. And I think, we have always welcomed that this initiative is pushing it. It's also a call for international solidarity that can be through bilateral intervention, but also multilateral interventions like those from the World Bank," he said in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN).

The official said the World Bank will make efforts not only with Brazil but also with other international organizations and countries like China to this end.

"So we are going to partner together with the Brazilians, but also ways FEO in Rome to see, we can actually foster that knowledge exchange on best practices. And clearly also a country like China that has also good experience on agricultural system, but also to see how we can actually reach the poorest of the poor, how we can together actually make more progress on this," said van Trotsenburg.

The 19th G20 Summit is scheduled for Nov 18 to 19 in Rio de Janeiro, under the theme of "building a just world and a sustainable planet."

Created in 1999, the G20 is a main forum for international cooperation on financial and economic issues. It comprises the European Union, the African Union and 19 countries, including China and Brazil.

World Bank supports G20's task force on global alliance against poverty: official

China's top political advisor Wang Huning on Monday urged the China Overseas Friendship Association (COFA) to shoulder more responsibilities and pool the wisdom and strength of Chinese people from home and abroad to advance Chinese modernization.

Wang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks at a meeting of COFA executive directors in Beijing.

Noting the great successes both the Party and the country have made in the new era, Wang said these achievements could not be separated from the support and contributions of compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as overseas Chinese.

With strong support from the motherland, the prospects for them to serve their motherland and pursue their dreams are very bright, Wang said.

He asked the COFA and its directors to make further suggestions and contributions for the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao, and enhance economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation, as well as integrated development across the Taiwan Strait.

Shi Taifeng, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, attended the meeting, where he was re-elected head of the COFA.

Top political advisor urges pooling strength of Chinese from home, abroad for Chinese modernization