The Poverty Alleviation Conference of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) will be held from July 14 to 18 in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The conference would be hosted by the Communist Party of China (CPC), said Ai Ping, Vice Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, at a news briefing.

China hoped political parties in Asia would exchange experience on poverty alleviation, enhance pragmatic cooperation and focus the attention of the international community on development, so as to help realize the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDG), he said.

"It is the common responsibility and important obligation of political parties in Asia to achieve the goal of poverty alleviation, which is closely linked to the development agenda and the improvement of the livelihoods of the people", he added.

To date, about 90 representatives of 66 political parties from 36 countries had confirmed their attendance at the meeting, including observers from Latin America and Africa, Ai said.

The CPC successfully hosted the third ICAPP in 2004, which announced the Beijing Statement advocating cooperation among Asian parties.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2010)