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 development, and resources and the environment to sustain development.

Poor areas and people living in poverty represent the area of greatest weakness we must face as we work to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. We need to do more in implementing targeted poverty reduction and elimination measures. This year we will further reduce the number of rural residents living in poverty by over 10 million, including 3.4 million to be relocated from inhospitable areas. Central government funding for poverty alleviation will be increased by over 30 percent.

We need to step up development in contiguous areas of extreme poverty and old revolutionary bases. For this we should focus on the following work: improving infrastructure and public services; fostering poverty alleviation through distinctive local businesses, the domestic and overseas export of labor, and the improvement of education and health care; implementing the program for improving life in poor villages, and building the self-development capacity of poor areas and people.

In poor counties, different rural development funds will be merged, and oversight over funds and projects will be strengthened. We will develop new mechanisms for coordinating poverty reduction efforts. We will support non-governmental participation in combating poverty. The system for ensuring responsibility is taken for poverty elimination will be effectively enforced, the strictest possible evaluations and assessments of poverty alleviation will be carried out, and stern measures will be taken to address deception, falsification, and the manipulation of numbers in poverty elimination work. We must see that the results of our poverty elimination earn the approval of our people and stand the test of time.

2. Deepening reform in major sectors and key links

Full reform will be deepened in all areas. We will move faster to advance fundamental and critical reforms to boost the internal forces driving development.

We will continue to transform government functions.

To enable the market to play the decisive role in resource allocation and to give better play to the role of government, we must deepen reforms to streamline government administration, delegate more powers, and improve regulation and service. This is a profound reform of government itself, which we need to continue to pursue with the courage to make painful self-adjustments and overcome all odds.