By Qiang Wei, People’s Daily
The year 2025 marks the “Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Year of Sustainable Development.” Poverty reduction and development is a shared aspiration of SCO member states and remains a central priority for bilateral and multilateral cooperation under the SCO framework.
In recent years, China has actively implemented the Global Development Initiative, aligning high-quality Belt and Road cooperation with regional mechanisms and the development strategies of SCO member states. By promoting agricultural technologies, cultivating new talent, and building exchange platforms, China has contributed its wisdom and strength to agriculture-driven poverty alleviation and economic growth in other SCO member states.
This year, apple orchards in Kyrgyzstan enjoyed a bumper harvest, filling local farmers with optimism. The apples, renowned for their diverse varieties, bright colors, and juicy flavor, not only meet domestic demand but are also exported in significant volumes to Russia, Kazakhstan, and beyond. This success stems from sustained agricultural technology exchanges and cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan.
While Kyrgyzstan’s Chuy Region offers favorable conditions for apple cultivation, its cold winters demand frost-resistant varieties. Chinese experts have responded by breeding and selecting high-yield varieties suited to the local climate. Last year, 60,000 rootstocks were planted in a demonstration orchard, while Chinese experts traveled frequently between the two countries to share expertise in breeding and orchard management, helping local farmers raise yields and incomes.
China has likewise deepened agricultural technology cooperation with other SCO countries to advance poverty reduction. In a demonstration farm in North Kazakhstan Region, Chinese experts have continued wheat introduction trials and promoted wide-row sowing techniques, boosting yields by 20 to 30 percent compared with local varieties.
In Uzbekistan’s Sirdaryo Region, a China-Uzbekistan agricultural demonstration park has introduced Chinese-developed solar-powered irrigation and smart water-fertilizer systems, reducing water consumption while sharply increasing cotton output.
In Belarus, the China-Belarus Agricultural Science and Technology Demonstration Park has deployed co-developed drought-resistant seeders, planting high-quality, high-yield, and resilient wheat varieties bred in China.
Capacity building has also been a priority. On July 17 this year, the first group of 292 Pakistani trainees completed a three-month training program in Yangling, northwest China’s Shaanxi province, under the Prime Minister’s Initiative for Capacity Building of 1,000 Agricultural Graduates in China, a government-to-government program launched last year.
As a concrete outcome of the consensus reached by the leaders of both countries on strengthening agricultural cooperation, this project will bring 1,000 young Pakistani students in agricultural sciences to China in groups for training.
China regularly hosts thematic workshops and invites SCO technical experts to exchange experiences in agricultural modernization and rural revitalization. By June this year, the SCO Demonstration Base for Agricultural Technology Exchange and Training in Yangling had organized over 120 training programs, including agricultural aid and specialized sessions, training more than 2,400 agricultural officials and technicians from SCO and other developing countries. More than 300 officials have joined poverty reduction workshops, while over 42,000 participants have benefited from online courses.
Last year, during a poverty reduction and development workshop for SCO countries in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province, a business matchmaking session enabled participants to showcase unique agricultural industries and resources. The event led to more than 20 cooperation agreements in areas such as agricultural trade and technology exchanges.
Poverty eradication and rural revitalization remain fundamental SCO objectives. Since assuming the rotating presidency of the SCO, China has worked with all parties under the theme of the “SCO Year of Sustainable Development” to enhance policy dialogue, share its poverty reduction experience, expand practical cooperation, and help more countries explore development paths suited to their national conditions.
In May 2023, China and Uzbekistan established a sub-committee on poverty reduction cooperation under their intergovernmental cooperation committee, the first sub-committee on poverty reduction that China established with other countries at the governmental level. In May 2025, the SCO Forum on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development was held in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, providing another vivid example of China and other SCO member states joining hands to advance poverty reduction and common development.
“The SCO will continue to strengthen its platforms for joint poverty alleviation and sustainable development, working together to build a future for our peoples that is sustainable, fair, and secure,” said SCO Deputy Secretary-General Janesh Kane.
