Jiading district in Shanghai launches 12 pairing-up aid programs to support poverty-alleviation projects in Shuangbai county, Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture, Southwest China's Yunnan province on June 10. [Photo/chuxiong.gov.cn]

Jiading district in Shanghai will inject 294 million yuan ($41.5 million) into poverty alleviation projects in Chuxiong Yi autonomous prefecture, Southwest China's Yunnan province this year, according to a news conference held in Jiading on June 16.

Lu Fangzhou, Party?secretary?of Jiading district, said that the district will continue to offer support to Chuxiong, aiming to consolidate its hard-won achievements in poverty alleviation.

A long-term mechanism will be put in place to prevent people from falling back into poverty, said Lu.

Shanghai's annual aid plan shows that a total of 174 poverty-alleviation projects will be launched this year, which will include online job fairs intended to stabilize employment and alleviate poverty in Chuxiong.

The plan also said that industrial cooperation between the two places will be deepened, and programs will be launched to boost consumption of agricultural products from Chuxiong.

According to statistics, Chuxiong is one of the poorest areas in Yunnan province. Jiading and Chuxiong established friendly city relations in 1983 and began participating in the paired assistance program in 2017.

Since then, Jiading has carried out 472 paired assistance programs with the county, focusing on industry, talent cultivation and boosting consumption of local products. As a result, over 325,000 registered impoverished residents were lifted out of poverty. The county's per capita income among the poor rose from 2,467 yuan in 2014 to 10,407 yuan in 2019.

This May, all seven counties eliminated poverty thanks to assistance offered by Jiading, according to an approval of the Yunnan provincial government.