Top leader of China ranks poverty alleviation as one of the top priority. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region delegation's discussion Monday afternoon. After hearing the speeches given by the deputies, President Xi said more is needed to eliminate absolute poverty.

Poverty alleviation featured prominently in President Xi's discussions with the delegation from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

XI JINPING CHINESE PRESIDENT "We need to make up our mind to eradicate poverty. But at the same time, we should always keep the goal realistic. If we set a standard that is too high to reach, then people will feel discouraged to make it come true. A pony is unable to drag a big cart. The result of setting an unrealistic standard is that we cannot make anything in spite of good wishes."

After thorough discussions, deputies said they felt President Xi really cares about people's livelihoods.

ZHAO HUIJIE, PARTY SECRETARY XIAOMIAOZI VILLAGE, INNER MONGOLIA "President Xi asked whether we have irrigable land and how we deal with garbage. We feel that he really cares about us and shows concern from his heart."

As a major target of the national poverty-relief campaign, the region saw 200,000 people lifted out of poverty last year. The poverty rate stood at less than 3 percent. Governments at different levels invested $1.9 billion to help with targeted poverty alleviation. Still, Inner Mongolia has a population of nearly 400-thousand who live below the poverty line. Chifeng city has the Autonomous Region's highest number of people living in poverty.

MENG XIANDONG, MAYOR CHIFENG CITY, INNER MONGOLIA "President Xi pointed out that Chifeng has the highest population living in poverty within Inner Mongolia. He also listed series of very accurate figures."

The President required the local government to take more effective measures for reducing poverty, pay more attention to villages with large poor populations, and address such key problems as industrial development, public service and healthcare. Officials said the region aims to help 200,000 more people rise out of poverty in 2018.