Nation resolute in meeting poverty goal1

The COVID-19 pandemic will not compromise China's goal to lift all its rural population out of poverty by the end of this year, officials and experts said, with the country scaling up its response measures in job creation and helping with sales of agricultural products.

The country's top leadership, led by President Xi Jinping, has called for resolute policy action to minimize the shock from the pandemic and win the battle against absolute poverty as this year is the final one for China to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

China, having lifted over 93 million people out of absolute poverty over the past seven years, still has 5.51 million rural residents living below the official poverty line.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made poverty reduction a priority in his agenda as the outbreak posed immediate challenges to the country's targets.

He delivered an important speech at a nationwide teleconference on March 6 that called for heightened poverty reduction measures amid challenges from the outbreak.

"The government's persistent focus on eliminating poverty and rural development, its targeted strategies and its mobilizing of all sectors to help with work in this regard all contributed to the country's resounding success," he said.