The World Bank-backed global poverty reduction conference will be held in Shanghai from May 25-27.

Yukon Huang, the country director of the World Bank Beijing Office, heralded the conference as the first global conference for poverty eradication.

"This is the first such conference that only focuses on poverty reduction in the world," said Huang in an interview with Xinhua.

According to Huang, experience of some 50 successful poverty reduction models selected from diverse countries will be introduced and exchanged during the conference, which will be attended by over 1,000 representatives from dozens of countries and regions, as well as from international institutions all over the world.

(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2004)