Eliminating poverty a tough challenge for govt

President stresses no ethnic groups or regions should be left behind in national campaign

The central government opened a meeting on Friday morning to discuss how it can lift 70 million people out of poverty by the end of 2020.

China plans to help all its remaining poor escape poverty in the next five years, a challenge identified by President Xi Jinping as the toughest for the government in achieving its aim of building a "moderately prosperous society" in this time frame.