XINING -- The plateau province of Qinghai in northwest China will strive to eradicate absolute poverty this year, attempting to lift 77,000 impoverished people out of poverty.

The remaining 17 poor counties are expected to cast off poverty in 2019, said an official with the provincial poverty alleviation and development bureau.

Measures are taken to meet the target, including training the impoverished workforce, developing rural tourism. Construction of facilities in education, health, culture, technology as well as infrastructure for electricity, gas, water and telecom will be accelerated, according to the official.

Poverty reduction has been high on the agenda of the Chinese government, which aims to eradicate absolute poverty by 2020.

Qinghai is one of the least developed provinces in China. It had 736,000 people registered as poor in 2014, when China unveiled targeted poverty alleviation measures. Last year, 176,000 people shook off poverty in Qinghai and by the end of 2018, the number had reduced to 77,000.