Setting example

Abdul Halim Iskandar, Indonesia's minister for villages, development of disadvantaged regions, and transmigration, said this was the first time the country had sent a group of village officials to China to learn about poverty alleviation. A second group will be attending the same program as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Iskandar said Indonesia has a lot to learn from the world's second-largest economy and its success in reducing poverty. China's reform and opening-up policies have lifted nearly 800 million Chinese people out of poverty in the past 40 years.

Indonesia, with over 267 million people, is the world's fourth-largest country in terms of population.

Iskandar said China can help fulfill Indonesian President Joko Widodo's goal of strengthening human resources, expanding the rural economy through village-owned enterprises and reducing rural poverty.

According to latest data from Indonesia's Central Statistics Agency, more than 9 percent of the Southeast Asian country's total population lives below the poverty line. There are nearly 25 million Indonesians who subsist on less than $2 a day.

The incidence of poverty is higher in rural areas, where 12.6 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. In urban areas, the figure is over 6 percent.

Widodo, who was reelected in 2019, has promised to increase the funds extended to over 70,000 villages across Indonesia to boost the rural economy. From 2015 to 2019, Widodo's administration disbursed $17.7 billion in village funds, according to a report by the Jakarta Post.

Looking ahead, Iskandar, whose ministry is responsible for the country's thousands of villages, is hoping there will be more collaboration between China and Indonesia. Developing the rural economy "is a big responsibility for our ministry", he said.

Meanwhile, Gunaefi, head of Sukajaya village, hopes the pandemic will end soon, "so that we can get back to our normal activities".

Xinhua contributed to the story.