Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen,Good morning!First of all, please allow me, on behalf of the Ministry of Finance of China, to extend warm congratulations on the opening of the forum and a sincere welcome to all the distinguished guests at home and abroad.This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up. Over the past four decades, the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China （CPC）, have worked hard and forged ahead. They have embarked on a historic journey from economic restructuring to comprehensive reform. It has greatly freed and developed China’s productive forces and engendered earth-shaking changes in China. After 40 years of reform and opening-up, China has become the world’s second-largest economy and the leading industrial producer and commodity trader, making more and more contribution to world economic growth. As a developing country, China has carved out a development path of poverty reduction with Chinese characteristics through reform, opening up and large-scale poverty alleviation. According to the current standard of the United Nations, over 700 million people in China have been lifted out of poverty, contributing to over 70% of the poverty reduced across the world in the same period. Fiscal reform is an important part of China’s economic restructuring. Over the past 40 years, we have implemented fiscal reform to build a tax-graded fiscal framework with Chinese characteristics that is compatible with the socialist market economy. Major progress has been made in various fiscal and taxation reform.Since the 18th CPC National Congress, we have stepped up efforts to see that government budgets and final accounts are released to the public and devised a system based mainly on tax sharing for distribution of income between central and local governments. We have launched the reform to define the respective financial powers and expenditure responsibilities of central and local governments and established a more standardized central government transfer payments to local governments. Important achievements have been made in developing a modern fiscal system. After 40 years of vigorous reform, China’s finance has undergone tremendous changes. China’s financial revenue and expenditure have respectively increased from 113.2 billion yuan and 112.2 billion yuan in 1978 to 17.3 trillion yuan and 20.3 trillion yuan in 1987. In 40 years, China’s financial revenue and expenditure experienced an increase of more than 150 times and 180 times respectively. We have addressed regional unbalanced development by formulating fiscal and taxation policies and we are increasingly capable of improving people’s livelihood and regulating income distribution. We fully implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council with regard to poverty alleviation, give full play to the functions of finance, and strengthen support for poverty alleviation. We have provided strong support for poverty alleviation. In terms of the special fund for poverty alleviation alone, the central government, since the 18th CPC National Congress, has arranged special fund of 384.8 billion yuan for poverty alleviation on a quarterly basis with an annual growth of 21.7%. More than 60 million people have been lifted out of poverty and the poverty headcount ratio decreased from 10.2% in 2013 to 3.1% in 2017. Poverty alleviation has seen decisive progress. Our cooperation with the World Bank and other international development institutions has kept pace with China’s reform and opening up. In 1980, China resumed its lawful seat in the World Bank and started working with multilateral development institutions for nearly half a century. China has obtained more than $167.37 billion of lending and investment commitments from bilateral or multilateral development institutions, which has supported 3,692 construction projects. The World Bank and other international institutions have provided China with important financial and governance support to promote its reform and development. At the same time, they also have set a good example for advancing global poverty alleviation. Ladies and gentlemen, though China’s economy has been transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development, China is still a developing country that faces arduous tasks of forestalling and defusing major risks, carrying out targeted poverty alleviation, and preventing and controlling pollution. Particularly, China needs to help about thirty million rural poverty population living below the current poverty line shake off poverty by the year 2020. China still faces many acute problems that need to be resolved.In consideration of the current situation, I would like share some of my views.First, we will unswervingly deepen reform across the board and strive to achieve high-quality development and inclusive growth. China’s experience and great achievements in development-oriented poverty alleviation show that reform is the driving force behind the development and that high-quality development and inclusive growth through comprehensively deepening reform pave the way for poverty alleviation. Following the requirement of developing a modern economic system, the Chinese government is deepening supply-side structural reform and implementing national strategies such as innovation- driven development, rural revitalization, and coordinated development across regions. The Ministry of Finance will advance the reform of the fiscal and taxation systems and reinforce tax cuts in an effort to reduce enterprise operation costs, boost consumption and inject momentum into economic and social development. In the meantime, we will continue to increase input in improving people’s well-being and improve policies and mechanisms for spending on education, health care and social security. We will strive for a more balanced development that delivers more equitable development opportunities with the development benefits being shared by all.Second, we will give full play to the role of government investment and financing to promote targeted poverty alleviation. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Chinese government has taken important measures in poverty alleviation. That is targeted poverty alleviation: locate the root of poverty, suit the remedy to the case and conduct targeted therapy. We will follow the current poverty line, focus on areas of extreme poverty and special groups in dire poverty to substantially increase government investment in a targeted manner and make all-out efforts to fight poverty. From 2018 to 2020, the central government will allocate an additional 214 billion yuan for poverty alleviation efforts in areas of extreme poverty on top of the existing funding for poverty alleviation. Meanwhile, we will support and encourage the whole society to take flexible and diverse forms to fight poverty with the government playing the leading role.Third, we need to step up opening up and advance international cooperation on poverty reduction and development. The world economy is now facing tremendous challenges. As Professor Zheng Yongnian put it just now, building a wall will not work. To cope with unilateralism and protectionism amid economic globalization, we act differently by opening up at a higher level and conducting more extensive international cooperation. We will substantially reduce tariffs and put in place other major measures. We will extend support to the opening of the first China International Import Expo, advance economic globalization and bring benefits to people around the world with concrete actions. At the same time, China will continue to support and champion multilateralism and deepen global development partnership with the World Bank and other international institutions. China will help implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and contribute to the global goal of poverty eradication and common prosperity. We call for innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development. We will advance the Belt and Road Initiative, promote Triangular and South-South cooperation with Africa, boost infrastructure development in developing countries, enhance capacity for sustainable development, and inject fresh vitality into international cooperation on poverty reduction.Ladies and gentlemen, at present, China’s development has entered a new stage of building an all-round moderately prosperous society. As President Xi Jinping pointed out, this is the society to be enjoyed by each and every one of us. We will make every effort to allow finance to play a fundamental role in governance, step up support for areas of extreme poverty and complete poverty alleviation task by 2020.Ladies and gentlemen, in the lobby of the World Bank, there are words that read, “Our dream is a world free of poverty.” China’s practice shows that such a dream is not unattainable. We will make our contributions to global poverty reduction by winning the battle against poverty alleviation. We will work with other countries to deepen practical cooperation in international poverty reduction and development and build a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind so that everyone will share a world free of poverty.Translated by Mo Hao