ADB President Visits PRC to Strengthen Mutual Cooperation

BEIJING, PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (25 March 2005) - On his first official visit to the People's Republic of China (PRC) since taking office at the start of February, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda today met with senior Government officials, including Huang Ju, the Vice-Premier of the State Council, to discuss mutual cooperation and operations in the country and the region.

Yesterday, Mr. Kuroda signed an agreement with Minister of Finance Jin Renqing on the recently approved PRC Fund for Regional Cooperation and Poverty Reduction. The PRC is contributing $20 million to this Fund, which is the first to be set up by a developing member country of ADB and the first financed by the PRC at any international institution.

"The establishment of the Fund demonstrates the self-help spirit embedded in the 'prosper-thy-neighbors' values of Asia, even when the PRC is still fighting to resolve many of its own poverty-related issues," Mr. Kuroda said. "With such spirit and commitment, we are confident the Fund will play a major role in improving the lives of people in the Asia and Pacific region."

Mr. Kuroda also met with other Government Cabinet officials, including Vice-Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Zhang Xiaoqiang, Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, and Minister of Communications Zhang Chunxian to discuss ADB's operational directions in the PRC on supporting the Government's "balanced development" strategy.

The President will take part in a field visit to Tianjin tomorrow, the last day of the three-day visit, to see the ADB-financed Tianjin Wastewater Treatment Project and meet with Dai Xianglong, the Mayor of Tianjin Municipality.

Since the PRC joined ADB in 1986, ADB's Lending to the PRC has amounted to $14.8 billion at the end of 2004. In 2004, ADB approved seven loans amounting to $1.26 billion. ADB's average lending to the PRC has exceeded $1 billion per year since 1993.

There are 35 ongoing projects with a total loan amount of $6.1 billion. In addition, ADB has provided 448 technical assistance projects totaling $238.6 million, mostly used to support policy reforms, capacity building and knowledge-based products.

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