Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Roberto Azevedo has taken Vietnam as an example of poverty alleviation at the launch ceremony of the book “The Role of Trade in Ending Poverty” jointly compiled by WTO and the World Bank Group (WBG).

He noted that between the early 1990s and 2012, the share of trade in Vietnam’s GDP doubled. At the same time, the extreme poverty rate declined from over 60 percent to under 3 percent.

“That is trade changing people’s lives for the better,” he stated, emphasising the strong linkage between trade and development.

Trade continues to play a crucial role in economic growth in the years ahead, he affirmed.

He and WBG President Jim Yong Kim pledged that the two organisations will continually work for a common purpose to boost economic development and improve the livelihoods of people around the world.

They also suggested that nations ensure trade supports everyone, especially the most impoverished, to eradicate poverty.

At present, there are still nearly 1 billion people living on less than 1.25 USD each day, making up around 15 percent of the world’s population.

VNA