China's central authorities will continue to send staff to aid poverty relief efforts in designated areas, Chinese Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu said Thursday.

Hui made the remarks at a meeting for summing up experience in such efforts, which was attended by representatives of 272 departments of the central government.

Under this project, which started in 1986, functionaries dispatched to backward areas are asked to adopt various measures to help lift local people out of poverty and usually take temporary positions in local governments.

Measures they take include helping those regions to raise funds and attract investment, organizing the construction of roads, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure facilities, helping those areas to form strong and effective leadership teams and helping those areas to formulate scientific development strategies.

Hui said direct involvement of the central authorities constitutes an important component of the Chinese-style poverty-relief work. This arrangement will not only facilitate the implementation of polices of the Communist Party of China and the state at the grass-roots level, but also help the cadres to gain first-hand understanding of the real situation of the state and improve their capability.

Hui urged departments of the central authorities to attach greater importance to poverty-relief work in their designated areas and make further efforts to address the basic needs of the poor population, improve living and production conditions and the comprehensive quality of poor population in those areas.

Hui said poverty-relief work in designated areas participated in by central authorities has made great achievements. Effective experience and practices in these efforts should be summed up and carried forward.

Hui said poverty relief is an important job that must be done well. It has bearings on China's goal of building of a well-off society in an all-round way, pursuing the scientific viewpoint of development, and solving the problems of farmers, agriculture and rural areas.

He said China has made great progress in poverty relief since it started reform and opening to the outside world. Poor population in rural areas has dropped dramatically, the poverty rate has dropped significantly and the living and production facilities in poverty-stricken areas have been improved markedly.

However, there are still tremendous tasks ahead. Greater efforts are needed to push poverty-relief work to a new height, said Hui.

(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2004)