China's Finance Minister Xiao Jie (L) speaks during the annual meeting of the board of governors of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Yokohama, Japan, May 6, 2017. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)
Chinese Finance Minister Xiao Jie has called on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to play a positive role in supporting different economies, social classes and communities in Asia to share the fruits of economic globalization.
Xiao said at the 50th Annual Meeting of the ADB's Board of Governors here that the world economy is still amid deep adjustment, with globalization facing challenges, wealth inequality and north-south gap underlined.
He said Asia, home to over half of the world's population, still faces arduous tasks with over 300 million people living in poverty.
He called on the ADB to make the best of its resources to vigorously support innovation-driven growth by promoting development concept innovation, mechanism innovation and technology innovation, to summarize, spread and share the experiences of Asian development and achieve common prosperity in Asia.
Xiao said the regional cooperation promoted by the ADB is highly compatible with the connotation of the Belt and Road Initiative put forward by China. He hopes that the ADB could enhance strategic alignment with interested parties of the initiative to further promote regional interconnectivity and deepen regional cooperation.
The minister pointed out that middle-income countries are important practitioners, sources of experiences of poverty reduction and important contributors of world economic growth. He also called on the ADB to further clarify its purposes and strategic positions, and deepen all-round cooperation with middle-income countries while enhancing its support for low-income countries.
Xiao stressed that China has built an all-round, wide-ranging, equal and mutually beneficial partnership with the ADB since it joined the ADB in 1986.
China is willing to deepen all-round cooperation with the ADB to jointly promote poverty-reduction and prosperity in the Asian region, he said.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Xiao exchanged views with ADB President Takehiko Nakao on cooperation between China and ADB as well as ADB's support for the Belt and Road Initiative.
Central bank governors, government officials and business leaders around the world gathered for the 50th annual meeting of the ADB and related events from Thursday to Sunday.
Participants of the meeting recognized that the ADB has made positive contributions to poverty reduction and regional development and cooperation in the past 50 years.
They called on the ADB to enhance cooperation with middle- and high-income countries to promote regional economic integration and increase investment in infrastructure, healthcare and education among other areas.
They also recognized that the joint financing of the ADB and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has played and will continue to play an important role in promoting regional economic and social development.
