UNDP to write new National Human Development Report with Chinese partners

BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed two Memorandums of Understanding Wednesday with the State Information Center of China and the China Institute for Development Planning at Tsinghua University to strengthen research on a special edition of the National Human Development Report (NHDR).

The report will review China's social and economic development over the past 40 years, highlighting tax reform, state-owned enterprise reform, social welfare, membership of the World Trade Organization and flexible exchange rates.

It explains the shift of China's development philosophy from the income oriented approach to the Scientific Outlook on Development proposed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2003, as well as the five development concepts of innovation, coordination, green development, opening up and inclusiveness, laid out in 2015.

"Since its opening up and reforming in 1978, China has made significant strides in the field of human development," said Nicholas Rosellini, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for China.

"For instance, universal coverage for compulsory education and basic health insurance has now been generally achieved in the country, more than 10 million Chinese citizens have been freed from poverty and deprivation since 2012, and people's general standard of living have greatly improved," Rosellini said.

The report will also examine challenges in sustainable development, including urbanization, the aging society and slowdown in economic growth. Practical policies for making China into a well-off society and addressing existing and potential challenges will be proposed.

"We hope that through this study, we can systematically analyze the relationship between the human development concepts made by the United Nations and China's five development concepts, and identify the importance of the five development concepts in promoting the well-being of people's livelihoods," said Cheng Xiaobo, president of State Information Center.

"China's phased strategy to poverty reduction, broad-based approach to poverty alleviation by 2020, as well as its flexible institutional design that facilitates the delivery of human development outcomes can also serve as valuable building blocks for other countries seeking to achieve similar results in human development," Rosellini said.

NHDR is the UNDP's flagship publication. Eight NHDRs featuring China have been published since 1997. This report will be launched in December 2018. Enditem