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By admin, 2010/03/13 05:42

Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal
Lamy arrived in Beijing on Sunday as he tries to revive the stalled
Doha trade talks.

In an interview prior to his departure for Beijing, Lamy said he
would tell Chinese officials that developing countries should also
contribute to the trade talks so they can be concluded in the next
six to nine months.

\”Obviously, all countries are preparing for a possible
compromise … and I want to make sure that as we reach this crunch
time, China can preserve its defenses and offences in the
negotiations,\” Lamy said.

Next week, representatives of the United States, the European
Union, India and Brazil will meet in Germany to discuss possible
compromise solutions to the Doha talks.

During his four days in Beijing, Lamy will meet with officials
from the ministries of commerce, finance, agriculture, and the
central bank.

The Doha Round of trade talks was launched in 2001 with the goal
of boosting the global economy and helping poor countries through
fairer trade conditions. The talks have stalled mainly because of
sharp differences over agriculture subsidies and tariffs.

Lamy said the talks need to be finished by the end of the year
or early next year, and to do that WTO members must first reach an
interim agreement on cutting agriculture subsidies, agriculture
tariffs and industrial tariffs in the next few weeks.

China, which joined the WTO in 2001, has stressed that specific
concerns of new WTO members should be effectively addressed at the
trade talks.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2007)

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By admin, 2010/03/13 05:41

China vows to keep pushing for the Doha Round trade talks and to
safeguard the multilateral trade system, Chinese finance minister
Jin Renqing told visiting WTO chief Pascal Lamy
in Beijing on Monday.

In talks with visiting World Trade Organization (WTO)
Director-General Pascal Lamy, Jin said that China would keep
contributing to the Doha talks, and pointed out that the country
has honored its WTO accession commitments by slashing tariffs and
continually opening up its markets.

Ministry of Finance stats show that tariff duties on non-farm
produce have plummeted from 42 percent in 1992 to 8.9 percent now
whilst farm produce tariffs have similarly dropped from 54 percent
to 15.3 since 2001.

 

The WTO chief reiterated that the issues currently stalling the
Doha round of talks revolved around agricultural subsidies, and
tariff cuts on agricultural and non-agricultural products.

The Doha Round began in 2001 with the noble aims of boosting
global economy and helping to establish fairer trade conditions in
poor countries.

For his part, Lamy expressed his hopes to see China bring in
more flexible policies on its farm produce imports and abide by its
word in helping push forward the trade talks.

He voiced concerns about China\’s market access rules over
certain non-agricultural products and called for the Doha talks to
see closer cooperation between China, the United States and the
European Union.

Jin replied by saying that agricultural trade talks should be
eased since China has slashed import tariffs on farm produce
despite having a long-standing trade deficit in the area, a fact
which impacts directly on the country\’s 900 million rural
people.

Jin also pointed out that developed countries should take the
lead in the Doha trade talks, and that China would bolster support
for the talks amongst developing nations, particularly in terms of
the recently acceded members who have yet to feel their concerns be
properly addressed

Lamy, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday for a four-day visit,
will meet with officials from the Ministries of Commerce, Finance,
Agriculture and the Central Bank whilst also discussing the issue
of intellectual property rights.

Before leaving for China, Lamy said he would encourage China to
lead developing countries to a more active participation at the
trade talks, enabling them to be concluded within six to nine
months.

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2007)

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By admin, 2010/03/13 05:40

Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy on Monday hailed China\’s performance since its entry into WTO in 2001. 

Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with Lamy on Monday. 

\”Lamy fully appreciates China\’s overall performance since it entered the WTO in 2001 and its great contribution to world trade prosperity and stability,\” according to a statement issued by the CPC International Department. 

Thanks to Lamy\’s leadership, the WTO has been committed to building a fair and sound world trade system, Wang said. 

Lamy briefed Wang on WTO\’s priority and the progress of the Doha round of trade talks. 

Wang was among a series of officials Lamy expected to meet during his four-day China tour. 

Lamy will meet with officials from the ministries of commerce, finance, agriculture, and the central bank. 

Lamy\’s China visit is widely seen as efforts to revive the stalled Doha round of trade talks. In an interview prior to his China visit, Lamy said he would tell Chinese officials that developing countries should also contribute to the trade talks so they can be concluded in the next six to nine months. 

\”Obviously, all countries are preparing for a possible compromise … and I want to make sure that as we reach this crunch time, China can preserve its defenses and offences in the negotiations,\” Lamy said. 

Next week representatives of the US, the EU, India and Brazil will meet in Germany to discuss possible compromise solutions to the Doha talks. 

The Doha round of trade talks was launched in 2001 with the goal of boosting the global economy and helping poor countries through fairer trade conditions. The talks have stalled mainly because of sharp differences over agriculture subsidies and tariffs. 

Lamy said the talks need to be finished by the end of the year or early next year, and to do that WTO members must first reach an interim agreement on cutting agriculture subsidies, agriculture tariffs and industrial tariffs in the next few weeks. 

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2007)

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By admin, 2010/03/13 05:39

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors yesterday approved a
US$100 million loan to China to support the country\’s efforts to
promote credit flows to micro and small businesses. 

To meet the challenges it faces in maintaining sustainable
economic growth and addressing rising economic and social
inequalities, China is seeking to diversify the sources of economic
growth and raise the efficiency of resource allocation. Ideally,
these new sources should contribute to employment without exerting
extra pressure on an already strained environment. One potential
source for growth is micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs),
which have already contributed to GDP growth, job creation and
export earnings.

Promoting micro and small enterprises (MSEs), the majority of
which are privately owned, is a government priority in its drive to
build a well-off and harmonious society. But over time, the MSEs
that have become a forgotten segment, as banks have tended to
consider enterprises in the upper end of the SMEs as bankable.

The Micro and Small Enterprise Finance Project supported by this
new loan to China aims to expand credit flows to MSEs on a
mass-market and commercially sustainable basis. It aims to help the
China Development Bank (CDB) develop a new business line involving
wholesaling of MSE subsidiary loans and provide related technical
support to participating financial institutions.

The project is two-tiered, consisting of wholesale and retail
operations. CDB has been chosen as the wholesaler for this project
and will lend to and arrange technical support for participating
financial institutions (PFIs) at the retail level. Under the
project\’s two components:

• US$95 million will be channeled by CDB to PFIs, with maturity
  of up to 10 years with grace period up to 5 years, for on-lending
  to MSEs. The PFIs will on-lend the funds to MSEs at commercial
  interest rates;
• US$5 million will be used to fund specialized and comprehensive
  technical assistance to CDB and PFIs, to strengthen their
  institutional capacity and skills to effectively engage in MSE
  lending. 

\”Micro and small enterprises play an essential part in China\’s
effort to build a harmonious society,\” said David Dollar, World
Bank Country Director for China. \”We hope the project will
demonstrate to Chinese banks that lending to MSEs can be
commercially sustainable so that private sector MSEs can expand,
creating jobs and income growth and reducing poverty.\”

Germany\’s aid agency KFW has provided parallel financing under
the MSE finance project with a loan of US$50 million and a grant
from the German Government of 3 million Euros.

(China.org.cn June 21, 2007)

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By admin, 2010/03/13 05:38

The World Bank\’s board of executive directors Tuesday signed off on a loan of US$173 million to China to support the Second Liaoning Medium Cities Infrastructure Project. This deal is further sweetened by a US$5 million grant by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). 

The project will come as a boon to seven medium-sized cities and Yingkou Economic Development Zone in Liaoning Province which are in dire need of improved water supply, wastewater treatment and solid waste services. Such a move would also lead to a marked lowering of pollution into the Bohai Sea. 

The WB loan will have a variety of uses, helping finance construction or rehabilitation of wastewater collection and treatment facilities; the construction of water distribution pipelines, installation of water supply meters, and new construction or upgrading of existing water treatment plants. It will also help bolster planned construction of new landfills and procurement of solid waste collection and transfer works and equipment.  

For its part, the GEF grant will go towards technical assistance in design and construction, public utility improvement program, solid waste master planning and water pollution control planning. The seven Liaoning cities that will gain from this project are Panjin, Yingkou, Fushun, Anshan, Gaizhou, Haicheng and Xingcheng. 

\”The project provides an excellent platform for Liaoning to expand its environmental infrastructure and enhance utility regulation and capacity building. It will become a vital component for the the economic revitalization of Liaoning, improve the quality of life in eight cities, and help improve Bohai Sea water quality.\” said Greg Browder, the project\’s Senior Environmental Engineer and Task Leader.  

This is the second of a series of three projects supporting medium-sized cities in Liaoning. The First Liaoning Medium Cities Infrastructure Project, approved in June 2006, focused on urban transport while the third instance, scheduled for 2008, will tackle the vagaries of urban heating. In total, the three projects will bring in around US$600 million in WB financing, and cement the financial institution\’s long-standing development partnership with Liaoning Province. 

In another development, the WB Wednesday approved a loan of US$25 million to help improve access to water and sanitation in western China. 

The Western Provinces Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion Project is set to tackle the poor access to sustainable water supplies for poverty-stricken rural communities across 25 counties while also addressing the vital areas of sanitation and hygiene. It aims to develop a working model based on an integrated and participatory approach, which can then be replicated in other provinces, according to a WB statement. 

The total investment costs will amount toUS$75.36 million, with US$25 million of loans from the WB, US$25 million of grants from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and US$25.36 million from the participating provinces of Shaanxi and Sichuan. 

More than 60 percent of the investment will go towards improving access to safe drinking water, through the construction of piped water supply systems, rainwater collection systems and wells. The ultimate goal is for all participating schools in Shaanxi and Sichuan to see a steady supply of safe water. 

Environmental sanitation will be another big winner with over a quarter of the investment set aside for building or upgrading household, public and school toilets, hand washing and drainage facilities, and garbage drop-off points. 

Finally, the project will also support hygiene promotion, as well as providing management and technical training. 

Currently, over 300 million people in China go without safe and clean drinking water, most of them located in comparatively poor rural areas. Government targets, if met would see 160 million rural people get consistent supplies of clean drinking water by 2010, expected to be extended to all rural areas by 2015. 

(China.org.cn, Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2007)

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By admin, 2010/03/13 05:37

The World Bank has signed its first greenhouse gas reduction agreement in China to develop a landfill gas project. 

The Shuangkou landfill gas project, located in Tianjin, will recover gas from the Shuangkou landfill and use it for electricity generation. 

Reductions achieved in greenhouse gas emissions will also be sold to the Spanish Carbon Fund under the global mechanism for trade in carbon credits. 

Project developer Tianjin Clean Energy and Environmental Engineering Company Ltd (TCEE) will collect landfill gas, half of which is expected to be methane that has 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide (CO2). The rest will be CO2 and other gases. 

It will produce power by installing a landfill gas collection system, electricity generation equipment and a gas flaring system on the site. 

Under its agreement signed with the World Bank, TCEE will then sell 635,000 tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emission reductions to the Spanish Carbon Fund managed by the bank. 

\”Tianjin is the first landfill gas project the bank has undertaken in China and is a prototype of what could be,\” said Greg Browder, senior environmental engineer and task leader of the project. 

There are 87 cities in China with a population of 1 million residents or more that produce large amounts of greenhouse gases. 

\”The residents of these and other large cities discard significant quantities of waste that will emit methane in a disposal site. The potential for landfill gas projects like Tianjin is enormous,\” he said. 

The landfill gas project is expected to start by early 2008. Gas will be collected in pipes from a series of wells that tap into waste disposal sites.

The collected gas will be then transported in pipes to a central facility where it will be burned to produce electricity for sale to the North China Power Grid. 

\”As a renewable energy project, the Tianjin project will provide societal, economic and environmental benefits and result in a positive impact on the global climate,\” said a TCEE official who declined to be named. 

\”With its approval in China and with the emission reductions purchase agreement signed, the project is now on its way to being registered as a Clean Development Mechanism project.\” 

Landfill gas is the fourth-largest contributor to non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. 

The Shuangkou landfill was the first modern sanitary landfill in the North China city. 

(China Daily July 6, 2007)

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By admin, 2010/03/13 05:33

The World Bank on Friday praised China\’s efforts to reduce
poverty by developing agriculture, but said more funding is needed
if it is to further lift the standard of living among the rural
poor.

The country\’s biggest achievement in the past two decades is
poverty reduction, Sari Soderstrom, rural sector coordinator of the
World Bank China, said on Friday at the release of the latest World
Development Report 2008.

World Bank economists said poverty reduction has been made
possible as agricultural productivity rises.

\”Agricultural growth has been highly successful in reducing
rural poverty in East Asia over the past 15 years,\” said Francois
Bourguignon, chief economist and senior vice-president of the
bank.

In China and India, agricultural productivity has gone up while
poverty has been going down in recent decades, said Harold
Alderman, World Bank economist and co-author of the report,
\”Agriculture for Development\”.

\”There has been sustained progress in both countries.\”

Many countries have sought to learn from China\’s experience,
said Sari. \”Most developing countries are looking to China to try
to duplicate recipes of success for this.\”

China reduced the number of poverty-stricken people by 195
million – by the World Bank standard – during the 1990-2002 period,
according to a report released by the State Council Leading Group
Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development on Wednesday.

That number accounts for more than 90 percent of the total
reduction worldwide in the period.

China has been increasing funding to agriculture and rural areas
in its drive to build a new countryside, as it tries to narrow the
rural-urban development gap.

The government abolished agricultural tax at the beginning of
last year.

The World Bank acknowledged the efforts of transforming
economies, including China, to provide better incentives, but
warned that the real challenges lie ahead.

\”Rural poverty accounts for an extraordinary 82 percent of total
poverty in transforming countries,\” said Robert Zoellick, World
Bank Group president.

\”A greater focus on agriculture is essential when considering
population pressures, declining farm sizes, water scarcity and
environmental contamination and the need to develop lagging
high-poverty areas.\”

The World Bank suggested that farmers need to be helped to
develop high-value products, such as horticulture, poultry, fish
and dairy, and financial access should be made easier for them.

\”State-owned banks (in developing countries) would not like to
lend to rural development although they are told to,\” said
Sari.

Agricultural spending also needs to be channeled in a more
efficient way, she said.

(China Daily October 20, 2007)

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By admin, 2010/03/13 05:32

The World Bank yesterday launched its second China Development Marketplace initiative, a program that funds innovative ideas and projects from grassroots civil society organizations. 

The program, in partnership with the Ministry of Civil Affairs and State Council Leading Group Office for Poverty Reduction and Development, will first raise money from individuals, businesses, government agencies and other organizations to support projects designed to improve the environment, reduce poverty and contribute to people\’s well-being. 

The World Bank will take the lead in contributing funds to the grant pool and cover most of the administrative expenses. 

David Dollar, World Bank country director for China, said: \”China has had great development success, but it still faces the important challenges of environmental protection and social development. 

\”Experience worldwide and now in China has shown that grassroots civil society groups are often the most effective at designing solutions to these problems,\” he said. 

Civil society organizations will be invited to submit their project concepts, with the deadline set for the end of next month. 

After being independently assessed, in June, 50 projects will be chosen for development. 

Each one will be awarded a grant of 200,000 yuan (US$27,000). 

On the subject of funding, Dollar said the program will focus on China\’s corporate sector. 

\”I\’m confident we can raise significantly more than last time,\” he said. 

In 2006, when the first China development marketplace program was launched, organizers raised US$650,000 to fund 31 projects across the country. 

In Tongjiang County, Sichuan Province, the program spent US$21,500 on a project to improve women\’s health, which directly benefited 273 people.

 Zhang Haoliang, secretary-general of the Tongjiang-based Dabashan Society for Ecology and Poverty Research, which designed and implemented the project, said thanks to the program, local communities have established self-governing committees to manage community affairs. 

\”The program has inspired villagers to accept new ideas, manage their community in a transparent manner and take initiatives to improve their own well-being,\” he told China Daily. 

Since 1998, the World Bank has spent some US$40 million on more than 1,000 projects in 70 countries. 

(China Daily November 9, 2007)

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By admin, 2010/03/13 05:31

World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick has commended China for the role it is playing in global development and the effort it is making to improve its energy efficiency, and reduce pollution.

Speaking at the end of a four-day visit to China – his first as World Bank President – Mr. Zoellick said: \”I hope my discussions with the leadership have helped pave the way for closer cooperation between the World Bank and Chinese authorities on issues of global concern, including development in other parts of the world, energy, and climate change.\” 

Mr. Zoellick also welcomed the announcement by China that it would for the first time contribute to the International Development Association (IDA), the part of the World Bank Group which provides grants and no interest credits to the world\’s poorest countries. Talks for IDA\’s fifteenth replenishment concluded in Berlin on Friday raising a record US$41.6 billion.  

\”It is a significant breakthrough to have China become a contributor,\” he said. \”It signals China\’s intention to help shape the international aid architecture through multilateral channels. With this contribution, China has moved within less than a decade from being a successful IDA recipient to a global partner\”.  

Since 1981 China has received more than $9.9 billion in IDA credits to support priority projects and strengthen capacity and institutions. China ceased being an IDA client in 1999, when its growing prosperity qualified it for more market-based terms from the World Bank. 

In his meetings with Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice Premier Wu Yi and other key leaders, Mr. Zoellick commended the Government for the ambitious targets it had set for reducing energy consumption, improving fuel efficiency standards in cars, and for the important role it is playing in global carbon markets.  

\”Supporting China in its effort to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases is a top priority of the World Bank in China,\” Mr. Zoellick said. 

Since 2005, around 75 percent of World Bank Group activities have had an environmental objective.

Launching a report entitled China and the World Bank: A Partnership for Innovation, Mr. Zoellick said China had shown the world how to use development projects to test innovative ideas and then scale them up for maximum impact. The report documents more than 35 case studies that show how China has blended international good practice in development with the Chinese context. 

During his visit, Mr. Zoellick visited World Bank-financed projects that have grown from small-scale pilots into large-scale success stories. In Guangzhou he drove on an inner-city ring road partially financed by the Bank in a project that demonstrates new approaches to traffic management and noise reduction that are now in use in other cities. While in Guangzhou, Mr. Zoellick also met with small business owners who have benefited from small loans to improve their energy efficiency. This program was developed with a commercial bank and financed by the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group\’s private sector arm.

In Chongqing he saw how an urban environment project dramatically reduced the city\’s raw sewage discharges into the Yangtze River through infrastructure investments and water utility reforms. And in Sichuan, he visited a health project which introduced an approach to medical assistance for the poor that has been scaled up nationally. 

\”China has shown how to work with the Bank to introduce new ideas, test them out, and then when they work, expand them across the country,\” Mr. Zoellick said. \”China has very valuable lessons for the world about how to adapt international good practices to its local conditions and we hope to work with China on sharing these lessons in a variety of ways.\” 

Mr. Zoellick also met with the top leaders of Guangdong Province and Chongqing Municipality Wang Yang and Bo Xilai. He listened to their perspectives on the local development priorities and discussed what the World Bank Group could do to better support their goals.  

In Beijing, Mr. Zoellick commended China\’s development achievements in meetings with Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice Premier Wu Yi, Minister of Finance Xie Xuren, Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi, Governor Zhou Xiaochuan of the People\’s Bank of China, Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Dai Bingguo, Vice Minister of Commerce Chen Deming, and Vice Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission Zhang Xiaoqiang.  

Mr. Zoellick also met with President of the Export-Import Bank of China Li Ruogu to discuss ongoing cooperation and knowledge sharing between the two agencies, especially around possible collaboration on pilot development projects in Africa. Mr. Zoellick also met President of the China Development Bank Chen Yuan to discuss how to enhance the existing cooperation and explore prospects for co-financing development projects in other countries. He also attended a seminar with prominent economists and think-tanks at Tsinghua University, and met with civil society organizations to hear their views on the challenges and how the World Bank in China can support their efforts.  

For the full report of China and the World Bank: A Partnership for Innovation And information on the World Bank in China, please visit: www.worldbank.org/china 

(China.org.cn December 18, 2007)

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By admin, 2010/03/13 05:30

China needs reforms to government finance to meet its dynamic needs, says a book launched in Washington on Thursday by the World Bank. 

As the world\’s fourth-largest economy and third-largest exporter, China\’s growth rate of about 9 percent a year over the past decade helped reduce its poverty rate from 60 percent of the population to less than 10 percent today. 

However, such rapid growth has increased inequalities in income and access to basic services, and strained natural resources, notes the book – Public Finance in China: Reform and Growth for a Harmonious Society. 

In its 11th Five-Year Plan, the book says, Chinese government seeks to resolve these issues by shifting priorities from the overriding pursuit of growth to more balanced economic and social development – an undertaking requires strengthened public finance. 

In the book, policy makers and academics explore many dimensions of public finance, from fiscal reform and revenue assignments to fiscal transfers, delivering public services, maintaining growth and tackling inequality. 

The editors of the book are Jiwei Lou, former executive vice minister of finance and currently chairman of China Investment Corporation, and the World Bank Senior Economist Shuilin Wang. 

\”Contributors to this book include some of China\’s most important economic reformers – people who actually designed policy during the country\’s successful emergence,\” Jim Adams, the World Bank Regional Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific, said at a press briefing. 

The book represents an excellent example of how China takes active policy debate and follows it up with experiments on the ground, he said.

 (Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2008)