BEIJING -- The Chinese government will continue to make poverty reduction a major task and endeavor to ensure the development achievements benefit all the Chinese people, said Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Wednesday.

Hui made the remarks at the opening of the International Conference on "Taking Action for the World's Poor and Hungry People", which coincides with the Fifteenth International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

"Although China has made remarkable achievements in poverty reduction, it is still a developing country with low per capita income and prominent unbalanced regional development. We still face a tough task in poverty reduction," Hui said.

Since the reform and opening up to the outside world, China had made remarkable achievements in poverty elimination and improving living standards, he said.

The number of extremely poor people in rural China had fallen from 250 million in 1978 to just over 20 million by the end of 2006, and the incidence of poverty dropped from 30.7 percent to 2.3 percent.