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SCIO briefing on white paper 'Poverty Alleviation: China's Experience and Contribution'

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China Daily:

We know that the National Administration for Rural Vitalization has already been established. We are very curious about how it operates. Could you please introduce it? My second question is: Now that the country's "No. 1 central document" for 2021 requires a rural construction action plan to be launched this year, what priorities do you have for implementation of the first year of the plan? Thank you.

Wang Zhengpu:

I know you all have a keen interest in knowing more about our rural vitalization work as well as the National Administration for Rural Vitalization. After the victory in the battle against poverty is complete, the focus of work related to agriculture, rural areas, and rural people will be shifted to comprehensively promoting rural vitalization. As a result, some adjustments will be made to the relevant institutions. The central government has decided that the Central Leading Group for Rural Affairs will undertake the functions of the former State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development and the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development will be restructured to become the National Administration for Rural Vitalization. The Administration now falls under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and is mainly in charge of consolidating the achievements of poverty elimination and coordinating all concrete activities to implement the rural vitalization strategy.

As we shift our focus from poverty alleviation toward comprehensively promoting rural vitalization, our work will target a broader group, cover more areas, and meet higher standards. The task of comprehensively implementing the rural vitalization strategy is not second to the fight against poverty in depth, breadth, and difficulty. I may say that departments related to rural vitalization work shoulder major responsibilities and have a lofty mission to perform. We will further enhance the sense of responsibility, perform our duties strictly as the National Administration for Rural Vitalization, continue to promote the spirit of fighting poverty and achieve new victory on a new journey toward rural vitalization.

We are now carrying out overall planning for the rural vitalization work. I hope that journalists and media will provide support and assistance for our work. Also, we welcome your supervision. Let us join hands and create synergy in promoting the healthy development of China's rural affairs.

The nature, main content, and main targets of the rural vitalization strategy are clearly defined. We take the strategy as a key driver in work related to agriculture, rural areas, and rural people in the new era. Its main content includes vitalization in five areas, namely industrial vitalization, talent vitalization, cultural vitalization, ecological vitalization, and organization vitalization. The strategy's overall goal is also clear, that is, to build rural areas with thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity. We also set clear phased goals for rural vitalization in 2025, 2035, and 2050. Meanwhile, there will be some specific targets set by each Five-Year Plan that will promote step-by-step rural vitalization. China is a vast country with a huge population, and local conditions vary greatly from region to region. Local authorities have their specific goals, measures, and means in promoting rural vitalization. We believe that under the general goal set at the central government level, local authorities will surely meet their set targets at every stage through constant exploration and efforts.

As for your second question, the rural construction work is now progressing steadily. The main target of the work is to upgrade existing infrastructure facilities. During its fight against poverty, the country has input a large amount of manpower, material, and funding to step up the development of infrastructure facilities in impoverished areas. So far, great improvements have been made and witnessed by all regarding roads, water supply, telecommunication facilities, and other village-level public infrastructure facilities in impoverished areas.

The next target for us to work toward is the further promotion of rural construction. The other speakers also talked about this topic just now. For example, roads should be extended to reach village communities and households. Some special roads for industry or tourism should also be further extended. A large number of existing infrastructure facilities need to be upgraded and constant efforts should be made in this regard. Furthermore, we will step up the improvement of rural living environments by upgrading toilets, sewage treatment systems, and the domestic garbage collection and transfer system. Statistics show that 68% of rural populations now have access to sanitary toilets and nearly 90% of domestic garbage undergoes centralized treatment. Now, our greatest weakness lies in domestic sewage treatment in the rural areas and we have invested heavily in this area. Currently, local authorities have been dealing with this problem in different ways, such as connecting with the sewage system in cities and building independently operating sewage treatment facilities, as well as other local approaches. All in all, I believe that the rural construction action plan will surely make new progress with the constant efforts made by local authorities.

The rural vitalization strategy has attracted wide attention and concern from all sectors of society since the concept was first raised at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. We hope that journalists attending this press conference will help publicize the positive approaches adopted by local authorities so that they can learn from each other and jointly promote the healthy development of rural vitalization work. Thank you.

Tang Renjian:

I would like to add something. There are three institutions in charge of the rural vitalization work, namely the Office of the Central Leading Group for Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the National Administration for Rural Vitalization. Among them, only the last institution's name reflects its role in promoting rural vitalization. In the future, the Office of the Central Leading Group for Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will study and promote the establishment of laws, regulations, plans, strategies, and major policies on rural vitalization, so as to perform their functions from different perspectives and levels. Thank you.

Chen Wenjun:

Thank you, speakers, and many thanks to journalists. Today's press conference is concluded. See you next time.

Translated and edited by Zhang Liying, Guo Yiming, Gong Yingchun, Liu Jianing, Zhu Bochen, Xu Xiaoxuan, Yuan Fang, Chen Xia, Wang Yanfang, Zhou Jing, Li Xiao, Li Huiru, Fan Junmei, Liu Qiang, Zhang Rui, Wang Qian, Wang Yiming, Yang Xi, David Ball, Jay Birbeck, Tom Arnstein and Geoffrey Murray. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.