"China has a lot of lessons to offer for other developing
countries," said the new World Bank Vice President for East Asia
and Pacific Region James Adams upon completion of his first trip to
China in his new position. Mr. Adams started his trip in Guizhou Province and met with officials
of a variety of government departments and other donors in
Beijing.
Mr. Adams focused his trip on the question how China and the
Bank can cooperate in sharing the country's experience with the
rest of the world. "China's poverty reduction has been a very big
part of global poverty reduction in the last decades and I think it
would be very good if that experience can be more widely shared,"
Mr. Adams said.
Among the lessons he took away from China, Mr. Adams said, were
that "country ownership of reforms, strong capacity, fiscal
prudence and learning from others have been key to China's
success." Mr. Adams noted he had a constructive dialogue with a
number of agencies on China's growing presence abroad, notably in
Africa, a region where he had spent time since the early seventies.
He had proposed concrete steps to work together with China on
overseas' assistance, possible in the form of joint financing of
some pilot projects a vehicle to combine the strengths of China and
the Bank. "The relationship with China is clearly evolving and is
becoming a very productive two-way street of exchange in ideas."
Mr. Adams said.
The Bank's program in China will remain substantial. "Our new
Country Partnership Strategy recently approved by the Board
includes a lending program of US$1-1.5 billion dollar per year,"
David Dollar, World Bank Country Director for China said. The
Country Partnership Strategy is aligned with China's 11th Five-Year Plan, and focuses on poverty
reduction, environment, and China's increasing role in the world
economy. "We see as our main role in China as twofold: to offer
policy suggestions and implement innovative solutions for China's
development challenges," Mr. Dollar said. During his time in
Beijing, Adams discussed some of the challenges for the country,
including environment, rural and social development, and rising
income inequality.
"I am very impressed with the initiatives announced in the 11th
Five-Year Plan , which is very comprehensive in addressing
sustainable and equitable development," Mr.Adams said, noting that
his trip to Guizhou had made him more aware of the complexity and
diversity of China's remaining development challenges. "We are
supporting the authorities in implementing the Plan," Mr. Dollar
said, "with increased focus on inland regions." Mr. Adams met with
authorities to discuss key programs in poverty alleviation,
including rural health insurance, rural infrastructure, vocational
training for migrants and rural finance.
In his talks in Beijing Mr. Adams also discussed the current
impasse in the Doha round with the authorities, noting that China
can play a useful role in these negotiations. He mentioned that
China's example of successful trade opening could serve others:
"China's opening up and its entry in the WTO has been a resounding
success." Mr. Adams said. Since the 2001 annual growth has averaged
10 percent, trade has grown by almost 30 percent, and poverty has
continued to fall, from 16 percent of the population in 2001 to 10
in 2004. "Clearly, the world has benefited as well," said Mr.
Dollar, noting that the last three years were record years for
world growth and that if measured in comparable prices, China's
growth contributed almost 29 percent of world growth in 2005, and
21 percent of world trade growth.
(China.org.cn December 8, 2006)
