International cooperation should be strengthened to maintain world economic stability, a senior Chinese financial official said in Washington on Sunday.

"The current world economic and financial situation is complex," said Li Yong, Chinese Vice Minister of Finance, adding that the global economic slowdown "will adversely affect global development and poverty reduction."

"The international community should make correct judgment on the situation and strengthen cooperation to jointly maintain world economic stability," he said in a statement at the 78th Development Committee of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

To this end, the vice minister said, developed countries should adopt responsible macro-economic policies to maintain international macro-stability.

"The policy responses should not only effectively address the present crisis, but also take into account long-term interests, as well as their impact on the international macro environment," he noted.

Major developed countries should maintain stability of the value of international reserve currencies and ease the global inflationary pressure, Li said.

The international community should also be vigilant against possible deflation caused by a slowdown of the world economy, he said.

Meanwhile, developing countries' efforts to maintain stable growth should be supported by the international community, Li said. "Developing countries are strong forces of the global efforts to contain a worldwide vicious economic recession."

Faced with the changes in the world economy, Li said, developing countries are stabilizing their macro economy, conducting domestic restructuring and actively pursuing South-South cooperation by sharing experiences and complementing each other based on their respective comparative advantages.

"This is not only conducive to middle-income developing countries' efforts to expand overseas markets and nurture new growth points, but also supportive of low-income developing countries' infrastructure development and will lay a solid growth foundation," he said.

Therefore, the economic stability and social security of the entire developing world is an important part of the solution to the present crisis, and a necessary condition for achieving long-term growth and development of the world economy, Li said.

In addition, the international community should explore the establishment of an international economic order aimed at promoting global common development, he noted.

"We should pursue the establishment of international economic, financial, monetary, trade and development systems which suit inclusive and sustainable globalization, and enhance global economic governance from all aspects," he said.

The World Bank Development Committee was established in 1974 to advise the boards of governors of the bank and the fund on critical development issues and on the financial resources required to promote economic development in developing countries. The committee usually meets twice a year.

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2008)