International conference on poverty eradication held in Botswana

GABORONE, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Experts and policymakers from around the world gathered Tuesday to share ideas on poverty eradication, in Gaborone, capital of Botswana.

The two-day conference, under the theme "leave no one behind in the fight against poverty, exclusion and inequality", was hosted by government of Botswana and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The conference will focus on identifying and showcasing best practice examples from countries that have been successful in reducing and alleviating poverty, as well as sharing ideas on the critical pathways and trade-offs for achieving further progress.

Speaking at the official opening, Botswana's President Seretse Khama Ian Khama said the theme, 'leave no one behind', is also a guiding principle for the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which world leaders made a commitment to implement in 2015.

"Botswana is finalizing the Poverty Eradication Strategy, which will be of great assistance to us in our implementation of the goals and targets that we have set ourselves to take everybody out of poverty," said Khama.

According to Khama, as the poverty eradication program was rolled out, emphasis was given to targeting more vulnerable groups such as women and the youth through additional initiatives such as the Youth Development Fund and the Women Economic Empowerment, amongst others.

The latest statistics from a 2016 World Bank Report indicates that more than 700 million people or 10 percent of the world's population still live in extreme poverty. The majority of the vulnerable groups are children. Enditem