Remarks by Wencai Zhang, Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Administrative Officer (MDCAO), at China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) Second[...]

Distinguished Colleagues,

I am pleased to have the opportunity to address you today. On behalf of the World Bank Group, I want to thank the China International Development Cooperation Agency for organizing this conference, and the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for hosting this session.

The World Bank Group, as a multilateral institution, has international cooperation at its core and we support this forum's efforts to enhance Global Action for Shared Development.

We welcome China's efforts to participate and strengthen global development cooperation - through its launch of the Global Development Initiative, its membership of the World Bank Group, and leadership of institutions such as the Global Development Promotion Center, and the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance, among others.

China is a key partner in international development cooperation: its own economic transformation effort offers experiences for developing countries. As the largest multilateral development institution of global reach, we are privileged to be part of China's development journey and are now drawing and sharing experiences from China's development path.

At the World Bank Group, China has advanced from a recipient of assistance, receiving around $88 billion in financing, to be also a donor itself. China is now one of the largest bilateral creditors to low- and middle-income countries.

This year's replenishment of the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) is taking place at a time when development progress in the poorest countries has been disrupted. The crises of the past five years have reduced the growth of IDA countries to the lowest level since the early 1990s. These countries are also most vulnerable to global challenges such as climate change.

In this context, global cooperation to support the poorest nations is of critical importance. The World Bank Group can play a key role to anchor global action, using our worldwide presence and membership to bring stakeholders together, leveraging their financial contributions and channeling them to where support is most needed.

To achieve faster and more impactful development results and address global, regional, and country-level challenges, multi-sector support is essential. As part of our Evolution Roadmap and broader efforts across diverse sectors, we launched six Global Challenge Programs in energy, food, water, forests and biodiversity, health emergencies, and digital. These programs employ replicable and scalable approaches and will benefit from global partnerships.

In addition, we introduced new financial instruments designed to boost lending capacity and enable the World Bank Group to take on more risk for shared global challenges. These include the Portfolio Guarantee Platform, hybrid capital mechanism, and the new Livable Planet Fund, all of which have received significant endorsement from our shareholders.

IDA's highly concessional resources remain critical to enable the poorest countries to invest in their future while maintaining debt-sustainability. In addition to financing, we also need to support the poorest countries through more knowledge sharing, capacity building and technology transfer.

While the World Bank Group can catalyze global action, we cannot do it alone. This is why we have intensified our efforts to build partnerships and engage stakeholders both public and private. In May 2024, we launched the first One World Bank Group Partnership Charter, which affirms the institution's long-term commitment to partnerships and highlights the principles that underline our work with external partners. It also reinforces our vision of the partner we aspire to be.

Over the past year, we have formalized our partnerships with other development institutions, and are working to harmonize policies and procedures. We have signed MoUs with several Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and bilateral development partners, including the AIIB. AIIB is already our largest co-financing partner globally. In addition, in April of this year, the World Bank Group, together with other nine MDBs, launched a new co-financing platform.

We are also strengthening our cooperation with the private sector. Last year, the World Bank Group mobilized $41 billion of private capital for emerging markets and raised another $42 billion from the private sector through bond issuance.

These partnerships extend beyond co-financing, to include greater knowledge sharing, capacity building, and technology transfer. We should remember that developing economies can also offer valuable insights and experiences, positioning them as key knowledge partners.

Today's global development challenges can only be solved if we work together - across countries, across institutions, and across public and private sectors. Together, we can end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a livable planet.

In this spirit, we at the World Bank Group are pleased to join you today and wish you successful discussions.

Thank you.

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