Vice premier stresses poverty relief through industrial development

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang on Tuesday called for steady progress in poverty reduction through the development of industry.

Industrial development plays a fundamental role in poverty alleviation, Wang said on a visit to east China's Anhui Province.

Local governments should step up efforts to foster industries with local features to improve the quality and effectiveness of poverty relief, Wang said. Poverty relief projects should be market-oriented.

While praising Anhui's progress , Wang urged local governments to actively explore sustainable development modes of the photovoltaic industry through greater involvement of impoverished households.

In 2016, China introduced a guideline on promoting targeted poverty reduction through developing industries with local features in poverty-stricken areas.

There were still 43 million people in rural areas living in poverty at the end of 2016. China aims to help all of them out of poverty by 2020.

In 2017, China plans to reduce poor population by over 10 million.