President stresses importance of speeding up modernization of agriculture at meeting

President Xi Jinping has urged continuous efforts to further promote rural vitalization after the country achieves its poverty reduction goal.

Both history and reality show that rural work is fundamental to national stability, and the most arduous task for national rejuvenation still lies in rural work, Xi said at the two-day central rural work conference, which concluded on Tuesday. The meeting outlined the country's rural development plans for the coming year.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that the whole Party should attach great importance to speeding up the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.

He urged all-out efforts of the Party and society to pursue rural vitalization, high-quality growth of agriculture, a comfortable life in rural areas and the prosperity of rural people.

Since the establishment of the CPC, the Party has kept in mind its mission of seeking happiness for farmers, Xi said, adding that rural reform also took the lead in the country's reform and opening-up, which started over four decades ago.

Since the Party's 18th National Congress, the CPC has made rural work its top priority and launched the largest-ever poverty reduction campaign in human history, Xi said.

The poverty alleviation measures have brought about historic changes in rural areas, with the doubling of farmers' annual incomes compared with 2010, and the final resolution of the problem of absolute poverty that has existed for thousands of years in China, he added.