China's Glorious Cause has helped 4.6 million Chinese people
cast off poverty in the past eight years of its existence.
The Cause, initiated by private enterprise has attracted the
participation of 14,407 businessmen from China's mainland, the Hong
Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan Province,
with a total investment of 52.3 billion yuan (US$6.3 billion),
according to information from the Second Executive meeting of the
Ninth All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce that opened
Saturday.
The Cause has invested 8.5 billion yuan in education and other
public welfare causes, providing training for two million people
and jobs for 2.1 million people, statistics show.
A delegation from the China Association for the Promotion of the
Glorious Cause (CAPGC) visited the United States and Mexico in
September, as well as four United Nations agencies in a bid to
promote international cooperation.
The Glorious Cause will sign a framework agreement with the
United Nations Development Program this year to set up a new
anti-poverty foundation, sources at the CAPGC said.
In April 1994, ten private businessmen agreed to build a poverty
relief project targeting China's backward areas. In July 1994, the
Glorious Cause came into being to help these areas through
technology transfer and technical training.
(China Daily December 1, 2003)