China's central finance has allocated a poverty relief fund of 5.15 billion yuan (US$644 million) this year to areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, 310 million yuan (US$38.75 million) more than last year, according to official statistics.

The government also assigned special funds to offer technical training for farmers and support 68 backbone enterprises in ethnic areas in 2006, the first year of the country's 11th "Five-Year" Plan, said Gao Hongbin, deputy director of the Poverty Alleviation Office under the State Council on Tuesday.

During the 10th "Five-Year Plan" (2001-2005) period the State Development and Reform Commission alone invested 4.8 billion yuan (US$600 million), about 85 percent of the country's total, to help 1 million needy ethnic people move out of remote and backward areas and settle in new homes.

This year about 140,000 destitute ethnic people have benefited from the relocation project, costing 700 million yuan (US$87.5 million), said Du Ying, the commission's deputy director.

And the central government had invested 14 billion yuan (US$1.75 billion) in the past five years in building public facilities in rural areas inhabited by ethnic groups. This helped enhance local production, the living environment and increaseed employment, Du said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2006)