Jinping called for enhancing and solid efforts to alleviate poverty

Beijing, October 10: Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the idea to eliminating poverty in China by 2020 which is 10 years ahead of the United Nations’s target of eliminating poverty in all forms by 2030.

All-out effort should be put towards poverty relief, as it is the toughest of all battles, said Xi. Remarkable progress has been made since the CPC Central Committee made a solemn promise to lift all rural people out of poverty by 2020, the Xi added.

Xi praised outstanding figures in China's battle with poverty, saying that their fighting spirit needs to be celebrated and spread nationwide to encourage concerted efforts in poverty reduction.

Xi's remarks came as a meeting was held in Beijing Monday to honor people who have made great contributions to poverty relief.

The number of people living below the poverty line in China has been reduced by an average of 13 million each year since 2012. China is closing in on its ambitious goal of achieving a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, with the baseline task of lifting all people out of poverty.

Since initiating market reforms in 1978, China has shifted from a centrally-planned to a market-based economy and has experienced rapid economic and social development. GDP growth has averaged nearly 10 percent a year the fastest sustained expansion by a major economy in history and has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty.

According to China’s current poverty standard (per capita rural net income of RMB 2,300 per year in 2010 constant prices), there were 43.35 million poor in rural areas in 2015.