The World Bank Group will step up its efforts to work with the Chinese Government this year on rural financing, said a senior official of the organization Sunday on the sideline of the China Development Forum 2010.

Both the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are very interested in the program, said Janamitra Devan, vice president of the bank, during an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet.

“There is a low rate of penetration of financial service to the rural sector,” noted Devan, who is also IFC’s vice president, adding that the number of villages and towns that don’t have banking facilities is large.

“How can people become active in society if they don’t have some of these fundamental things?” he asked, noting the World Bank will “work with the Chinese Government to help expand the access to finance for people in the rural areas to use banking facilities.”

As China is facing a very challenging time given the global current economic situation, Devan said, the World Bank is happy to continue to cooperate with the Chinese Government to help it get over the uncertainties brought by the financial crisis.

The position of the World Bank in China, he explained, is “to continue to bring the best knowledge that we have on development, and we share (it) with the Chinese Government very openly.”

The other areas that the World Bank is interested in involve very different arenas including such vital issues as climate change, Devan said.

The World Bank “takes active interest in lending to the Chinese Government,” he went on.

“From these lending we try to focus especially on climate change, energy efficiency and environmentally friendly energy. And these are the things that we think are significantly important. I believe that the Chinese government also believes in the same thing. “

The two-day forum, titled “China and the World Economy: Growth, Restructuring, Cooperation,” opened on Sunday morning with the sponsorship of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

It will address a wide range of topics, including the international trade, and adjustment of economic structure, as well as the actions and international cooperation in dealing with the climate change.

(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2010)