China will work harder to eliminate poverty over the next five years as the country still has about millions of rural people living in absolute poverty, said a senior Chinese official Thursday.

Poverty elimination remains an arduous long-term task for China, as its rural areas still have a large number people living in poverty, said Chinese Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu, at a seminar on poverty reduction held in Beijing.

He said China will continue to allocate more money to poverty elimination, while encouraging society, such as businesses, to actively participate poverty reduction.

In 1986, China began a large-scale poverty reduction program across the country by setting up special institutions, allocating special funds and formulating preferential policies.

By the end of 2005, the country's rural population living in absolute poverty, as defined by those with a per-capita yearly net income of less than 683 yuan (US$84), had been reduced to 23.65 million, official statistics show.

The rural population, with a per-capita yearly income between 683 yuan and 944 yuan (about US$115) was 40 million, according to the statistics.

China's poverty elimination program has entered a critical stage, and it is extremely important for the country to effectively eliminate poverty, said Hui.

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2006)