World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Sunday that he believes China and other rising economies will be "fairly and fully represented" in World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shares.

"It is time to change the shares," Zoellick told a press briefing at the World Bank and IMF spring meetings held in Washington.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick reacts at a closing news conference of the spring IMF-World Bank meeting at IMF headquarters in Washington DC, April 26, 2009. Zoellick said here Sunday that he believed China and other rising economies will be "fairly and fully represented" in World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shares. (Xinhua/Zhang Yan)

He said "when the Chinese representative speaks, people are counting their number of votes, looking what China brings to the table, which is a combination of its development experience, resources, growing influence and investment."

"So in that sense, I think the developing countries are getting their due not because some one giving their shares, but because they owned it through they have accomplished,

But he also reminded the international community not to "lose sight of the poorest."

"It's not only the question of the size of economy, but engaging all the players in the multilateral system," the World Bank president said, citing the institution has added a 25th seat for the sub-Saharan Africa in its first round of reform.

"I think that is just as important as representing the rising powers," he said. The current spring meeting of the World Bank and its sister institution IMF, held on Saturday and Sunday in the U.S. capital, is the largest world gathering since the G20 Summit meeting in London in early April.

Finance ministers and central bank presidents from all over the world assembled to seek the ways to better combat the current global financial crisis, which, according to both the World Bank and the IMF, is far from over despite the recent signs of stabilization.

(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2009)