A high-level forum kicked off in Beijing on October 17 to mark the 21st International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Jointly organized by the Government of China and the United Nations in China, the forum is recognized globally as a platform for improving policy coherence and coordination.

Convening top government officials, international development experts, and renowned scholars, including a Nobel Prize-winning economist, the forum this year attracted over 300 participants from China and other countries, for idea-sharing sessions on how to accelerate local and global anti-poverty action against the backdrop of rapid urbanization.

During the opening ceremony, Christophe Bahuet, Resident Representative ad interim of UNDP China, relayed a message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, saying "The post-2015 agenda must have poverty eradication as its highest priority and sustainable development at its core. After all, the only way to make poverty eradication irreversible is by putting the world on a sustainable development path."

The primary aim of this year's forum was to address China's unprecedented surge of urbanization and accompanying challenges such as rural-urban migration, new types of poverty faced by disadvantaged groups, and how to improve public policy in a rapidly evolving development landscape. Leaders called for greater global commitment to bridging socioeconomic disparities and promoting social inclusion.

Rebeca Grynspan, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNDP Associate Administrator, said: "Over 95 percent of future urban expansion will take place in developing countries, mostly in Asia and Africa. China's efforts in achieving social reforms will be watched closely around the world as other countries follow its leadership on urbanization and poverty reduction."

During his speech, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang outlined implications of China's immense pace of urbanization, remarking: "Our urbanization rate reached 52.6 percent in 2012, a 1.3-percent increase from the previous year. As we deepen reform and strive to readjust the nation's economic structure, we must take advantage of this critical period to achieve aspirations of an all-around well-off Society and introduce new means of poverty alleviation."

Though the number of Chinese citizens living below the $1.25-a-day poverty line set by the World Bank has already decreased from 446 million in 1999 to 160 million in 2009, Wang advises renewing efforts to find a more effective urbanization path. Strategies moving forward should emphasize urban-rural integration, continuing to strengthen China's core agricultural base and advancing urban development.

Methods on managing new forms of poverty such as multidimensional poverty and urban poverty were among the hot-button topics, with experts leading discussions on how to deliver aid to those who need it most. Accelerating efforts to achieve global anti-poverty targets, known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eradicating aid programme conditionality obstacles, and building on sustainability commitments, was highlighted as high priority.