Beijing has pledged to raise the incomes of 80 percent of its poverty-stricken households within the next three years, Mayor Liu Qi said in the Chinese capital on Wednesday.
The annual per capita disposal income of the rural poor people is usually far below the poverty line of 2,500 yuan (about US$301.2).
According to Liu, the city has mapped out a number of measures to help the poor escape poverty, such as raising social benefits and the spread of agro-technology.
The remarks were made during a meeting with scholars and experts from the United Nations, Russia and other countries who came for a world symposium on supporting the poor and environmental protection.
Yoshinobu Yonekawa, program coordinator with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, said that Beijing had achieved striking progress over the past few years in these two fields.
"That's why we are holding the symposium here in China," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2002)
