Statement by World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz on Arrival in China

 October 12, 2005

I am delighted to be in China and especially glad to be here in Lanzhou, and to have a chance to see for myself some of the projects and processes the Chinese have employed to reduce poverty so dramatically in such a short time. In the span of a few decades, East Asia has experienced the greatest increase in wealth for the largest number of people in the shortest time in the history of mankind.  It is an incredible fact, and of course, without this growth in China, it wouldn't have happened.

Since 1980, China accounted for 75 percent of poverty reduction in the developing world.

Over the years, China has been a large borrower from the World Bank, and is increasingly transitioning from borrower to donor. As its role changes, so its relationship with the Bank will change.

I intend to use this visit to achieve two main objectives:

First, I want to learn more about China's economic growth and poverty reduction.  We know that when China started its reform process, its GDP per capita was among the lowest in the world-on the level of India or Pakistan-but with growth of around 6 percent a year, it now has income levels surpassing both of those countries.  Since the beginning of economic reform, China has lifted more than 400 million people out of poverty.  How did China do it?  I want the World Bank to be able to do more to help other countries learn too, so that elsewhere in the world we can see more progress made to improve the lives of the poor. 

Second, I want to understand more about what the Bank can do to assist China in addressing the still large challenges of poverty in the country.  The Chinese leadership has identified a number of areas of imbalance in the country, including the gap between urban and rural incomes and the damage done to the environment in recent years.  China is the world's second largest emitter of greenhouse gases and contains 20 of the 30 most air-polluted cities in the world.  There are also pressing issues relating to water and energy usage that I hope to understand better from this visit.  These are areas where we have considerable experience, and where we can help. China recognizes that stability depends on correcting these imbalances and a number of others, and we certainly would like to do what we can to support that effort.