China will continue its efforts to reduce poverty under the United Nations' "Millennium Goals" programme, which aims to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, said Premier Wen Jiabao.

　　"We will try to help a small portion of our population who still live in poverty gain access to adequate food and clothing at an early date in the next 10 years," he told the International Conference On Scaling Up Poverty Reduction which opened in Shanghai on Wednesday.

　　The two-day conference, organized by the World Bank, aims to provide a platform for developing countries to exchange their expertise in poverty alleviation.

　　According to the World Bank President, James Wolfensohn, China was chosen to host the poverty conference because of its success in lifting some 400 million people from poverty over the past two decades.

　　And among 70 field trips organized in the past nine months as part of the "Global Learning Process", 10 have been located in China.

　　In spite of the country's achievements, Wen said China still has nearly 30 million rural people who lack adequate food and clothing, and over 20 million urban residents "whose incomes are lower than the minimum standard".

　　"Poverty alleviation in China remains a daunting task that needs long and hard work," he said.

　　He also pointed out that poverty is a political issue and a shared responsibility of the international community as a whole.

　　He said the widespread poverty was "also closely related to the existing unfair and irrational international political and economic order".

　　China will do its utmost to promote South-South co-operation, gradually increasing its development assistance to poor countries within its own capability.

　　He announced that China has decided to offer another US$30 million to the "Asian Development Fund", in addition to a US$50 million pledge to the "African Development Fund".

　　Also, China will contribute an extra US$20 million to the Asia Development Bank to create the "China Special Fund for Poverty Reduction and Regional Co-operation", in order to support the development of the Asia-Pacific Region.

　　More than a thousand people from developing countries gathered in Shanghai to exchange their expertise in poverty alleviation, hoping some of their success could be spread to other parts of the world, where one sixth of the population suffers from poverty.

　　By Xiao Chang