Speaking at the Rural Region Development and Socio-economic Improvement Conference, Myanmar’s leader said that “the drive to reduce the poverty rate needed to be prioritized before prosperity.”

He cited the country’s ample natural resources, young workforce and abundant farmlands as the core foundations in Myanmar’s development and together with the government launched a new microfinance scheme to assist those in poverty.

More than 70 percent of Myanmar’s population is rural and relies on the agriculture sector for their livelihood. According to the Asian Development Bank, more than a quarter of Myanmar’s population lives beneath the poverty line.

“While achieving success in implementing the process of ensuring peace and stability, national reconsolidation and the rule of law, the country hasexperienced unexpected challenges and difficulties,” he said, referring to recent outbreaks inter-communal violence across the country, according to a report in state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar.