Chinese Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng urged Monday the World Bank to make more effective and efficient efforts to support the developing countries.

Addressing the 62nd meeting of the Development Committee of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Xiang said as a multilateral development institution, the World Bank should beef up its support to the developing nations in their development process to promote global poverty reduction and long-term development.

He called on the World Bank and other multilateral institutions to adhere to the principle of political neutrality and represent equally the interests of each member state.

Meanwhile, Xiang said in recent years, politicization of the World Bank has been intensified, which has seriously jeopardized the interests of developing countries, especially the small ones.

Xiang called on the Bank Management and all member countries to strictly adhere to the World Bank's Articles of Agreement, particularly the principle that only economic considerations are relevant in serving its borrowers.

"The Bank must not make concessions to political pressures from some members. Instead, it must stand firm against politicization and maintain its political neutrality," he said.

Xiang also said the ability of the World Bank in helping the developing nations has been restricted as the cost of doing business with the bank for the borrowing countries has been rising considerably, even to the level that they can hardly afford it.

He suggested that the World Bank take concrete steps to simplify and streamline its safeguard policies, diagnosis and assessments so as to cut the cost of delivering its services and ensure competitiveness of its lending.

(People’s Daily 2000/9/26)