Senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official Liu Yunshan has stressed the importance of grassroots CPC organizations in the country's poverty relief drive.

Liu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks during his inspection tour from March 30 to April 2 to the southwest Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan.

He went to the counties of Lushan in Sichuan and Ludian in Yunnan, both affected by serious earthquakes in recent years. He visited villages, businesses, communities and medical clinics to survey the progress of post-quake reconstruction and livelihood.

He called on local CPC organizations and Party members to act as leaders in the reconstruction and poverty relief drive.

He also went to ethnic minority villages in the two provinces, visiting poor families and residents and listening to local officials' views on poverty relief.

Noting that the battle against poverty is of great importance to building a moderately prosperous society, Liu said fighting poverty is also a political obligation for CPC cadres and requires practical and down-to-earth work.

He also attended forums in the two provinces and met with local officials.

He said high-quality officials are key to poverty relief and more officials should be assigned to less-developed areas to help the efforts.

The performance of officials in poverty alleviation, quality of life and environmental protection should be given more weight in assessment, and those who do an outstanding job in poverty relief should be granted better promotion opportunities, Liu said.