Non-governmental sectors should be further mobilized as it is not enough to depend only on governments and financial allocations in tackling the poverty reduction challenges, a senior official said Friday.

"It is a unique creation to utilize an anti-poverty association system that combines efforts from government and enterprises, home and abroad, as well as eastern and western regions," Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai said at the third congress of the Association for Underdeveloped Regions in China (AURC).

Statistics indicated that more than 26 million people live in abject poverty in the countryside, and 50 million more with comparatively low incomes could easily fall into poverty if they face sudden difficulties, such as natural disasters or illness.

"Sticking to a sustainable development strategy of anti-poverty projects, a pattern of mutual benefit will be realized in prosperity (of poor people) and making profits for the enterprises (that administer the projects)," said Hu Fuguo, the newly-elected chairman of the association.

Established in 1993, the AURC has conducted the anti-poverty strategy through industrial development between enterprises, mainly privately-owned ones, with hundreds of thousands of local farmers in different regions.

Under the guidance of Jiuhua Agriculture and Trading Co. Ltd, more than 200,000 poor farmers in more than 50 villages in Huidong County of Guangdong Province defeated poverty and became rich by planting potatoes.

"In China, poverty reduction mainly depends on the efforts of governments; meanwhile, non-governmental organizations can also play a supplementary function," said Xiao Zhuoji, a professor at Peking University.

He suggested that the nation should adopt measures to equalize education between rural and urban areas, increase job opportunities and give more financial support to disadvantaged groups and under-developed regions.

Poverty alleviation is not only a fundamental requirement of socialism, but also a course full of business opportunities, said Hu Deping, vice-chairman of the China Society for Promotion of the Guangcai Program.

The non-government organization encourages private entrepreneurs to invest in development projects in less-developed areas, thereby improving living conditions and creating more job opportunities, Hu said.

More than 14,000 private entrepreneurs attended the Guangcai Program during the past 10 years to help millions of people get out of poverty, statistics indicated.

(China Daily May 28, 2005)