WB President to Visit China to Bolster Bank

World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick will visit China from September 1-5, his fifth official visit to the country since becoming Bank President in July 2007.

China and the World Bank commemorated 30 years of partnership in September last year and are working together on a study on China's key medium-term challenges towards 2030. The report, jointly prepared by China's Ministry of Finance, Development Research Center of the State Council and the World Bank, is expected to be finalized towards the end of the year. Zoellick will attend a workshop with Chinese officials and outside experts to discuss preliminary research for this report as part of the consultation process.

"I am looking forward to visiting China to listen and learn, and to discuss China's medium-term challenges as well as its response to the global economic crisis," Zoellick said. "In our increasingly multipolar world economy, China is an important pole of global growth and a growing source of ideas and innovation on how to overcome poverty."

While in China, Zoellick will meet with state and provincial government leaders. He will also travel to China's northeast to visit a farm and rice processing facilities in Beidahuang, an area transformed into a commodity grain production base and strategic grain reserve.