SHIJIAZHUANG, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- North China's Hebei Province lifted 648,000 people out of poverty last year, provincial authorities announced Wednesday at the ongoing session of the people's congress of the province.

The province has allocated officials to the areas in deep poverty and helped people shake off poverty by developing local industries and introducing preferential policies and training programs to help them gain employment. The province also used relocation as a means of poverty reduction.

Hebei will continue to prioritize poverty alleviation as one of its main tasks this year, said the provincial governor Xu Qin when delivering the government work report, promising to help 330,000 people get rid of poverty this year.

China aims to eradicate absolute poverty by 2020.