COLOMBO, March 8 (Xinhua) -- China's successful poverty alleviation program is an ideal example to follow in reducing poverty levels in Sri Lanka, an association head said here Wednesday.

Over the past 40 years, China has made remarkable progress in the areas of education, housing, health care and social security to improve its people's livelihood, said Indrananda Abeysekera, president of the Association for Sri Lanka-China Social and Cultural Cooperation, during an interview with Xinhua.

"We need to send experts to China to study rural development and seek possible methods which can be applied for the development of Sri Lanka," Abeysekera said, adding that China's reform policy and its great achievements in poverty reduction are fine examples for the world.

In a report released at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held last October, Beijing announced an ambitious goal to eliminate "absolute poverty" by 2020, when the country will complete the building of a moderately prosperous society.

In the past five years, more than 68 million people had been lifted out of poverty in China with the poverty rate dropping from 10.2 percent in 2012 to 3.1 percent last year, according to official Chinese figures.

"I believe the Chinese government will achieve their targets by 2020," Abeysekera said.

Abeysekera said he first visited China in 1987, adding that since then he has witnessed "unbelievable improvements" in people's living quality and the government has achieved its targets through dedication, efficiency and hard work.

Abeysekera now travels to China at least once a month, being actively involved in organizing events and forums to promote Sri Lanka-China ties in such areas as culture and education exchanges.