 |
| World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and Chinese Minister of Finance Xie Xuren launched a new knowledge hub to spread practical lessons from China's successes in reducing poverty, both within China and to other developing countries. [PHOTO:Wu Zhiyi / World Bank / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0] |
“China has lifted 600 million people out of poverty in the
last 30 years, and the demand is growing among other developing countries to
learn from its remarkable progress,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “The new knowledge
hub will play an important role in making China’s lessons available to the
world and will further our common mission to end extreme poverty and build
shared prosperity.”
"The hub will become a new and open centre for
developing countries to learn from each other,” said the Chinese Minister of
Finance Xie Xuren.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the World
Bank-China Knowledge Hub for Development signed in Beijing by Kim and the
Chinese Minister of Finance Xie Xuren, the first pilot, called TRANS-FORM, will
focus on urban transport. This focus was selected because of the urgent need
for innovative solutions to deliver green, inclusive, and low-carbon
development.
Managing urbanization is a priority for China, with about 75
percent of its gross domestic product generated in the largest 120 cities, and
350 million rural residents expected to move into its cities over the next 20
years. The Bank is helping China introduce transport improvements in about 30
cities, focusing on low-carbon emission options such as public transportation,
walking and cycling.
The new knowledge hub will speed up the process of analyzing
the successes and lessons learned in implementing solutions to urban
challenges. Some innovations are already being transferred to other countries.
For example, the Green Freight Initiative, which aims to improve fuel
efficiency in Chinese trucks, is being adopted in Brazil. CAI-Asia, one of the
Bank's partners in green freight in China, has started a pan-Asian green
freight program with support from donors and the private sector.
The knowledge hub will also help Chinese cities learn from
each other. An integrated corridor management approach was introduced in an
urban transport project in several cities in Liaoning Province to improve
people’s travel speed, reliability, safety, and security in a comprehensive
manner, based on successful examples in London and New York. It is now making
public transport more attractive in other cities including Taiyuan, Wuhan,
Changzhi, Xiangyang, and Xining.
While many countries understand broad policy directions,
they may not be getting the results they want because delivery of services and
infrastructure lags behind, often in communities where the needs are greatest.
Recognizing this development challenge, the knowledge hub seeks to lay the
foundations for a “science of delivery,” which will collect and distribute
practical knowledge that countries can use to get delivery right.
Kim also attended the launch ceremony of a risk-sharing
facility between the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is the
member of the World Bank Group focused on private sector development, and Bank
of Jiangsu. The project aims to unlock financing for energy efficiency and
renewable energy projects in China’s coastal province of Jiangsu. The guarantee facility comes under IFC’s
China Utility-based Energy Efficiency Finance Program (CHUEE), which encourages
banks to finance climate-friendly projects.
"IFC plays a critical role in China by promoting
economic growth that is both inclusive and sustainable,” said Jin-Yong Cai,
IFC Executive Vice President and CEO, at the launch of the facility.
“We entice banks to finance climate-friendly projects by
sharing some of their financial risk and we connect financial institutions with
market expertise to help them better understand the energy efficiency and
renewable energy sectors."
The Chinese Assistant Minister of Finance and Alternate
Governor to the World Bank Group Zheng Xiaosong praised the program
as an important platform to promote public-private partnership for low-carbon
development.
During his visit, Bank Group President Kim will also meet
state leaders and ministers of the Chinese Government. In addition, Kim will go to Sichuan Province
where he will meet people benefiting from support given by the IFC to a local
bank; visit a maternal and child clinic and other facilities built after the
2008 devastating earthquake; and speak with beneficiaries of a rural water and
sanitation project.