Ms. Ai Yinfang, Deputy Director-General of CICETE, 

Distinguished guests, colleagues, partners, and friends,
 

Good afternoon.

It is a great pleasure to join you today for the Summary Meeting of the Commercial Support for Rural Revitalization and Sustainable Development Project.

I am delighted to be here with all of you to reflect on what we have achieved together over the past three years, to learn from this shared journey, and to look ahead to future cooperation.

At the outset, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Ministry of Commerce and the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE) for their strong leadership and close partnership with UNDP throughout the project cycle. 

My special thanks also go to the People’s Government of Chengbu Miao Autonomous County for hosting us today and for the smooth organization of this meeting.

I would like to also thank the participating local governments, implementing partners, experts, and community representatives from all project locations. 

Your engagement and commitment have been essential in translating project design into concrete and successful results on the ground. 

As a context - since 2022, CICETE and UNDP, together with local partners, have jointly designed and implemented this project in four areas: Guang’an District in Chongqing, Yilong County in Sichuan, Chengbu Miao Autonomous County in Hunan Province, and Gonghe County in Qinghai Province.

Across these diverse contexts—from the Sichuan Basin to the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, from Miao communities in Hunan to western rural villages—the project has applied a “one county, one strategy” and “one village, one product” approach. 

From commercial endeavours, women’s empowerment, to talent cultivation, and the nurturing of farmers’ cooperatives, the project has tailored poverty alleviation approaches to take advantage of the resource endowments and industrial characteristics of each individual area while aligning local development priorities and practices with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

After three years and more than one hundred field visits, research activities, and training sessions combined, nearly one thousand rural talents, including beekeeping specialists and edible mushroom growers, have been trained. 

From branding and industrial upgrading, to circular economy models and ecological sustainability, the project has effectively advanced integrated development across agriculture, culture, tourism, and commerce, as demonstrated in the project video. 

More than 1,300 people have directly benefited from this project. 

This does not include people and local communities that have benefited indirectly from being a part of the production and supply chain of these commercial endeavours.

Notably, practices from Chengbu and Guang’an were also selected as global best poverty reduction cases by IPRCC, CIIC, ADB, FAO, IFAD, WFP and World Bank’s joint global poverty reduction case solicitation.

Beyond these impressive achievements, the project has demonstrated that rural revitalization requires long-term, adaptive approaches that are deeply rooted in local realities. 

When commercial mechanisms are aligned with public policy objectives, supported by effective institutions, and guided by inclusive development goals, they can play a critical transformative role in strengthening rural industries and building more resilient local economies and communities.

Ladies and gentlemen, 

Our cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and CICETE underscores our shared commitment with all of you to accelerate rural revitalisation across China. 

By combining international and national development experience with China’s policy priorities and locally grounded solutions, the project has generated valuable lessons that can be scaled and applied more broadly. 

Indeed, these lessons are highly relevant not only for future rural revitalization programming in China, but also for South–South and trilateral cooperation, where China’s rural development experience can be drawn upon.

Equally important are the institutional partnerships that have been built through this project. 

Regular dialogue, joint problem-solving, and close coordination among all partners have strengthened trust and mutual understanding. 

Let me congratulate you on your inspiring success!