Premier Wen
Jiabao met with World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz in Beijing
on Monday and said that the government is ready to enhance
cooperation with the bank in working towards poverty reduction and
economic development in China.
Wolfowitz said China has made remarkable
achievements in poverty alleviation within a short period of time
and that its experience could be learnt from by other
countries.
He added that the World Bank would continue to
widen its cooperation with China and make new, fresh contributions
to its development.
Wen said China has forged sound cooperative links
with the bank, whose loans have played an active role in promoting
economic development and poverty reduction.
He said the fact that China had fed its rural
population of 200 million living on less than one dollar a day had
been a tremendous achievement.
But Wen acknowledged that imbalanced development
remains prominent in China, a developing nation with the relative
low per capita income in the world.
The country still needs long term and arduous
efforts to do away with poverty, said Wen, adding that China would
invest more in impoverished areas to reduce the number of people
living in poverty.
Wen said China would also help promote global
poverty reduction by relieving its own poverty situation.
(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2005)