UNDP expects better equality following NPC session
- By Chen Boyuan
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 4, 2014
The annual legislature session, currently held in Beijing, has attracted the attention of foreign diplomats, including UNDP Country Director in China Christophe Bahuet who has expressed his high hopes for the congressional session to lead to better equality across China.
Bahuet said the UN agency is particularly interested in the strong focus the Chinese government places on more equitable income distribution and redistribution mechanisms as part of creating a more balanced and sustainable social security system to address the inequality issues lingering in China.
Official data have shown that the Gini coefficient -- an internationally recognized measure for inequality -- remained at 0.473 in 2013, though "it has improved from the 0.49 peak in 2008," said Bahuet.
As lower Gini coefficient signifies more equality, yet China's data still stayed above the international alert line of 0.4, according to the UNDP.
The experiences across many countries have shown that reducing inequality is crucial both for maintaining social stability and for achieving the sustained economic growth to which China aspires as it is trying to close the wealth gap between different social strata as well as different regions in the country -- a major agenda point in the current reform wave.
Bahuet said the UNDP pays special attention to China's legislature session which consists of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), as they are an important moment in China's political life.
At the opening ceremony of this year's NPC on March 5, Premier Li Keqiang will deliver the government work report for the first time as the country's head of government.
"While the Third Plenum has laid out the overall blueprint for China's new round of reforms, the government work report will provide a more concrete plan on how to implement economic reform, including in regards to the land and SOE issues which we closely follow," he said.
Bahuet added the UNDP is currently working on a wide range of development issues and is also interested in the final outcomes of the Third Plenum such as changes in government functions, social sector reforms, land and judicial reforms. All these are set to be polished as China's national legislature session continues.
