Visiting World Bank Group President James D. Wolfensohn delivered a keynote speech entitled ?Implementing a Global Partnership for Poverty Reduction? to students and faculty members at Peking University in Beijing Wednesday afternoon. Wolfensohn also answered questions raised by Peking University students.
The first question came from Zhang Jiachen, a junior in law school, who asked whether the World Bank has a definite project to promote education in poor areas. She asked this, she said, in relation to remarks Wolfensohn made at a press conference in Washington D. C. on April 21 about getting all children into school by 2015. In China, Zhang Jiachen said, a large proportion of school-age students are living in poverty and haven?t any opportunity to get into school.
In his reply, Wolfensohn said that China has a good chance to solve the whole question of illiteracy and school education before 2015. Rejecting pessimism on the issue, Wolfensohn acknowledged that in some areas -- not limited to China -- it could be very difficult, but achieving universal primary education is a central goal of the Millennium Development Goals of the World Bank. Wolfensohn noted it was his ?very distinctive impression? that the question was very much on the mind of the Chinese Education Minister. He said that he had met with the Chinese Minister of Education the previous night and that they had talked quite specifically about the problem -- the problem of the education of people of the 56 ethnic groups in China?s poor provinces, which involves economic development and economic opportunities in those communities. He pledged to provide experiences to developing countries to help them address a question.
The second question, raised by Liu Xuhang, a sophomore in the College of Life Science, sought suggestions from Wolfensohn on China?s Western Development Plan.
Wolfensohn answered that it is beneficial for the Chinese government and its prosperous eastern provinces to invest in west China. The first thing China needs to do is to establish infrastructure -- power, roads, utilities -- in that part of the country, which the Chinese government has already began to do. The other thing he advised China to do is to build human infrastructure -- health and education -- in that area.
He said that he had learned from the Chinese leaders that the ?Go West? program has top priority in China. He commented on the plan as ?very sensible, clear and sound.? He said he believes that over a few decades China will achieve what it is seeking -- the relocation of people and strengthening of the area. He also advised China to consider the two questions of the scale and time of the plan.
Another student, Ling Taotao, also a junior in law school, asked President Wolfensohn how to get a job in the World Bank.
Wolfensohn responded that the World Bank has an Internship Program for undergraduates and also a Program for Young Professionals that accepts graduates. He said that the Bank is eager to have more Chinese participants. He mentioned that the bank now has four managing directors -- one of them is Chinese -- Shengman Zhang. He also affirmed the possibility of moving within the institution.
The fourth student, Chen Ling, a sophomore in the Department of International Studies, asked Wolfensohn to give his personal ideas on such challenges and problems as laid-off workers and weak national industries that China has to face following its entry into the World Trade Organization.
Wolfensohn replied that the Chinese government had correctly decided to make China a part of the international trading system. He said he believed that the benefits this decision will bring to China outweigh the disadvantages it will bring to the country. He said that with the access to international markets China now has through the World Trade Organization, the country over the years will build up in certain areas including exports as well as domestic employment. He noted that for every country new to the WTO, there is always a period of adjustment for the less competitive industries because of the cut in tariffs. He said that though the period of adjustment might be painful in some areas, the Chinese government?s decision is correct and far-sighted. Those problems that do occur can be solved by relevant government policies, education, training, funding, and relocation and so on.
Chang Cheng, who identified himself as a college teacher of economics, rose to ask Wolfensohn to comment on the role civil society could play in social affairs, including poverty reduction in China.
In his answer, Wolfensohn said he had had talks on the issue with leaders in the area of civil society earlier during his China trip. He said China has made significant progress in this respect.
?When I first came here in 1976, the notion of civil society was not a particularly attractive one. Today it?s very different. Now you can talk about any subject -- corruption, organization, civil society, equality and a lot of things. And I think this is your real progress,? Wolfensohn said.
The last student, Zhu Lijiang, again from the Law School of the University, asked President Wolfensohn to what degree the World Bank links its investment policy with human rights?
President Wolfensohn told him that though the phrase ?human rights? was a highly political word, the World Bank in fact maintains and deals with many issues about human rights -- child laborers, equal rights for women, environmental rights and the rights to work and so forth, which are all about economic and social progress.
Wolfensohn is on the seventh day of an eight-day working visit to China. Earlier in this week, he met with Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji. He also participated in a ceremony for China to join the Development Gateway Foundation and to launch the China Development Gateway.
(By Chen Chao, china.org.cn staff reporter, May 30, 2002)
