Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

China welcomed an announcement by the World Bank of the appointment of Zhang Wencai, vice president of the Export-Import Bank of China, as managing director and chief administrative officer (CAO) of the bank, Mao Ning, a spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry, told a press conference on Wednesday.

Mao noted that China is the world's largest developing country, and the World Bank is the world's largest multilateral development institution. Over the past 40 years, the two sides have established a close partnership for development and carried out fruitful cooperation. 

China supports the reform of the World Bank to strengthen its development objectives and institutional capacity, and help developing countries realize sustainable development and effectively respond to global challenges, Mao said.

"We look forward to continuing to deepen our cooperation with the World Bank and making positive contributions to the global cause of poverty reduction and development," the spokesperson noted.

The World Bank also has had a number of Chinese experts in important positions. For example, Lin Yifu served as World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Development Economics and Chen Guangzhe was the Vice President for Infrastructure at the World Bank as of February 1, 2023.

According to China's Ministry of Finance (MOF), the World Bank announced on Tuesday the appointment of Zhang, with responsibility for institutional strategy, planning, budgets, information technology services and the sanctions system.

Zhang is the vice president of the Export-Import Bank of China and also a trustee of the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation. Previously, he served as vice president of the Agricultural Development Bank of China, vice president of the Asian Development Bank, and director general of the Department of International Economic and Financial Cooperation at the MOF, having rich experience in the development field.

As the third-largest shareholder of the World Bank, China supports the bank's reforms to strengthen its development objectives and institutional capacity, to help developing countries address global challenges and to realize the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the ministry said.

Global Times