Chinese charitable organization distributes food packages to Sri Lankan students

COLOMBO, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese charitable organization said on Wednesday that it has begun to distribute food packages to students across 139 schools in seven provinces of Sri Lanka.

Under China Foundation for Rural Development (CFRD)'s Smiling Children Food Package Project, 10,000 Sri Lankan students will be benefited, according to the CFRD.

A ceremony to launch the Smiling Children Food Package Project was held in Colombo on Wednesday with the attendance of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

Appreciating the distribution of food packages by the CFRD to children in poverty-stricken areas in Sri Lanka, Gunawardena said Sri Lanka needs to learn from China's experience in poverty reduction to realize sustainable development.

Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong said the CFRD's Smiling Children Food Package Project will help needy families, adding that China is willing to share the experience in poverty reduction with Sri Lanka, and the CFRD has innovated many successful practices in the process of poverty reduction in China.

Liu Wenkui, executive vice chairman of CFRD, shared his experience in poverty reduction, saying that the CFRD would like to work together with Sri Lanka to promote poverty reduction in Sri Lanka in the future.

The CFRD is a non-governmental charitable organization specializing in humanitarian aid and poverty reduction, with its International Smiling Children Project already operating in Ethiopia, Sudan, Nepal and Myanmar.