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)