President Wolfensohn,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

First of all, I, on behalf of the State Council Informatization Office, express congratulations on the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on China’s joining the Development Gateway Foundation and inauguration of the China Development Gateway.

When I visited Washington DC last March, I was invited to attend a meeting at which World Bank Vice President Mohamed Muhsin gave an introduction to the Development Gateway Foundation. It remains a fresh memory that all participants there at that time gave consideration to how the Chinese government could accelerate its pace in joining the foundation. Today, we are pleased to say that we have made a significant step forward to make the plan come true.

As everybody knows, to promote the application of information technology is a national strategy of China. But during the process of studying such a strategy, we also have had to pay particular attention to the risks involved. One risk is that the digital divide, having resulted from varied understandings of the knowledge-based economy and from problems rooted in government institutions and policy-making processes, will widen -- furthering economic disparity between developed and developing countries as well as within developing countries themselves.

Accordingly, the State Council Informatization Office greatly appreciates and fully supports what the Development Gateway Foundation initiated by the World Bank and the international community has been doing in reducing poverty and promoting sustainable development.

Finally, I would like to express my confidence in the outstanding contributions the Development Gateway Foundation will make to narrowing the digital divide. Good luck to the China Development Gateway! Thank you.

(china.org.cn May 28, 2002)