By staff reporter ZHOU LIN
China Today: What's your view on China's achievements in poverty alleviation? Is there any useful experience for Sri Lanka to follow?
Karunasena Kodituwakku: Certainly! Now I read some newspapers and I’d like to share the example of Shenzhen.
Shenzhen, a small fishing village some thirty years ago, has become one of the most prosperous cities in the world. And I know that hundreds of millions of Chinese poor people have been helped by the economic reform introduced by the Chinese government.
China's development has made it the world second largest economy. And the most remarkable thing China has achieved is the inclusiveness of development for all the population.
Developments have been set to meet the needs of housing requirements, health requirements and education requirements. The government built hospitals and schools for poor people. Everything has been included into China's economic development plans.
It is not just like the market economy in the west. It is a market economy development plan but with Chinese characteristics.
It helps millions and millions of families escape from their poverty. China has set a good model for us to follow. Not only in Sri Lanka, but many countries in the world where there still have poor people, China's experience helps those governments think about how to escape from the poverty, how to give light for the poor people. So China's example offers us good experiences, certainly Sri Lanka would like to follow the model.