On August 20, the 2023 Youyang International Conference on Rural Development, jointly hosted by China Institute for South-South Cooperation in Agriculture (CRISSCA) of CAU, National Institute of Rural Revitalisation of CAU, and the People’s Government of Youyang County, was held in Hejiayan Village, Huatian Township, Youyang, Chongqing, where experts and scholars from around the world in the field of rural development, and leaders in the industry, convened to exchange views and ideas upon “From poverty eradication to rural revitalization — the international significance of China’s rural development”. The conference launched mutual exchanges from the global rural development of the great vision, magnificent ideas, and extraordinary patterns, discussing rural revitalization and talking about the picture of common wealth, contributing wisdom and empowering the global rural development. The conference released the “Rural Construction of Common Wealth – Youyang Practice of Promoting Rural Revitalization”, and identified Youyang as the permanent venue of the International Conference on Rural Development.
Du Taisheng, vice president of CAU, Zhou Song, deputy director of the Chongqing Rural Revitalization Bureau, and Chen Juhong, vice president of Tencent Group, delivered speeches respectively. Qi Meiwen, secretary of the CPC Committee in Youyang county, talked about the following points in his speech. Goals of self and others can be unified, thus the world can be harmonized. Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized the need to accelerate the implementation of global development initiatives, cultivate new momentum for global development, and build a global development community. The conference gathered nearly 100 domestic and foreign experts, scholars and guest representatives to make better rural development and happier lives of the people as a common starting point, focusing on the practice of common wealth in the rural area of Youyang to discuss and exchange ideas, and answering the question of the times on the “rural development” from different cultural perspectives. Youyang adheres to consolidate and expand the results of poverty alleviation as the bottom line task, the revitalization of the rural area as the greatest potential, making the promotion of the accelerated development of the county as the main direction of endeavors in order to create a great ecological environment and to accelerate the creation of a new model of a beautiful place with enchanting scenery; Youyang aims to make every effort to develop the rural area and accelerating the construction of a new demonstration of rural revitalization across the country; make every effort to explore a new path of modernization that enriches the people in the mountainous areas. To revitalize the rural area, the county is the key. Youyang will fully take advantage of the results of this meeting, promote experts and scholars at home and abroad to carry out exchanges of ideas in a wider range of fields, accelerate the transformation of the utilization, and continue to open up new areas of new track, shaping the new momentum and new advantages for the development of the rural area in Chongqing, China and even to provide valuable insights into rural revitalization for application worldwide.
James Putzel, Professor of Development Studies and served as the Director of the Crisis States Research Centre of the London School of Economics and Political Science, Prof. Taro Hirai of Hirosaki University, Joshua Mugambwa, president of Makerere University Business School in Uganda have delivered keynote speeches on the significance of China’s rural transformation and development for the world, China’s development as seen by Westerners, Japan’s rural development experience, and the inspiration of China’s development experience for Africa.
