China signed an agreement with the World Bank yesterday to
secure US$30 million in loans and donations – US$20 million in
World Bank loans and US$10 million in donations from the Department
for International Development (DFID) of the British government - to
support its economic reform.
China's Ministry of Finance said the funding would be used to
reduce poverty in China's rural areas, the public sector, social
security and energy and resources management.
According to Chunlin Zhang, World Bank manager for the
initiative, the project is designed to assist government decision
makers who are determined to implement a reform and development
agenda in their departments or regions but face a lack of technical
knowledge.
Li Yong, vice minister of finance, said that technical
assistance programs were an important part of China's cooperation
with the World Bank and China had benefited greatly from them. With
the technical assistance of the Bank China had set up its
competitive public procurement bidding and tendering system and
water resource management mechanism over the past two decades.
The agreement was signed by David Dollar, country director of
the World Bank Office in Beijing and Zhu Guangyao, director general
of the International Cooperation Department from the Ministry of
Finance.
(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2006)