GUIYANG, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has demanded more to be done to improve the skills of people who have been relocated as part of poverty relief efforts.
China plans to end poverty by 2020, in part by relocating 10 million people over the next 5 years from barren or geographically disadvantaged areas to start new lives elsewhere.
"Alleviating poverty through relocation is a key aspect of our strategy," Li said in a message to a national meeting on the matter.
The two-day meeting ended on Tuesday in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province. Vice Premier Wang Yang attended the meeting.
There were still around 70 million Chinese last year living below the poverty line, many in harsh conditions without roads or water and power.
"Fighting poverty is an arduous, complicated and urgent task, which demands a strong sense of responsibility and mission," Li said.
The premier urged innovating mechanisms and mobilizing the initiative and creativity of the masses to tackle outstanding problems in the work of relieving poverty through relocation.
He called for efforts to enhance the capability of the relocated people to continue leading a better life and stay away from poverty.
Authorities in 22 provinces and autonomous regions have spent 58 billion yuan on relocation projects, with construction started on over 10,000 of them, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) revealed. With plans to relocate 2.49 million people this year alone, 718 projects have been completed and 226,000 people have moved so far.
Last December, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council released a key poverty alleviation instruction. Lifting the country's remaining 70 million poor out of poverty by 2020 will be "the most arduous task" on China's path toward the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the document said.
It reiterated that there should be more targeted and precise measures in poverty alleviation.
