MOSCOW — A Russian expert has voiced his interest in China's economic and social development plans to be unveiled during the upcoming annual "two sessions."

Plans for the next five years will remain very ambitious and will be implemented under difficult conditions mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Andrei Vinogradov, head of the Center for Political Studies and Forecasting at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences.

He made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua ahead of the sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which will open this week.

Vinogradov expected poverty alleviation to be discussed during the "two sessions," a major political event that sees a gathering of China's national lawmakers and political advisors.

"China's victory in eradicating absolute poverty is a major achievement ... This experience is of global importance," Vinogradov said.

"The problem of poverty is quite acute for the majority of the world's population. China has set an example of how this problem can be solved in the 21st century," he added.

Impressed by China's readiness to share its experience in reining in the pandemic, the scholar expressed his hope to see new proposals on how to jointly combat coronavirus infections.

Assessing China's economic and social development in 2020 as "very successful," Vinogradov said China has demonstrated its ability to cope with unexpected challenges facing the world.

China's economy expanded by 2.3 percent last year, and the speed will pick up this year with the decreasing impact of the pandemic, he said.