2nd LD: Chinese president announces major anti-poverty initiative

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced here Saturday a major initiative to help developing countries reduce poverty.

The "Six 100s" initiative, declared at a South-South cooperation roundtable Xi hosted, covers poverty reduction, agriculture, trade, environment, health and education.

China, he said in an address, will make available to developing countries in the next five years 100 poverty reduction programs, 100 agricultural cooperation projects, 100 trade promotion programs, 100 environment protection and climate change programs, 100 hospitals and clinics, as well as 100 schools and vocational training centers.

Also during the period, Beijing will provide 120,000 opportunities and 150,000 scholarships for citizens of developing countries to receive training and education in China, and help nurture 500,000 professional technicians for the developing world, Xi added.

China, said the president, will also set up an Academy of South-South Cooperation and Development, and provide 2 million U.S. dollars of aid in cash for the World Health Organization.

Xi is in New York for his appearance at the UN headquarters after concluding his first state visit to the United States. Earlier Saturday, he addressed the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit and called for an equitable, open, all-round and innovation-driven development path.

For effective implementation of the post-2015 development agenda, Xi made a four-point proposal: building up development capacities; improving the international development environment; updating development partnerships, and strengthening development coordination mechanisms. Endi