President of the World Bank James D. Wolfensohn was the next to Premier Wen Jiabao to give speech at the "Global Conference on Poverty Reduction" in Shanghai. Wolfensohn mapped out a world fraught with conflict and, in many places, with the desperation brought about by poverty. He stressed the importance of eradicating extreme poverty and creating global balanced world for the next generation.

Wolfensohn thanked Shanghai for its careful preparations for the conference. He considered Shanghai a city where good policies and adequate financing have been combined.

Wolfensohn looked back the uneven progress of poverty reduction over the last decades. He put forward current thorny problems in front of the world on eradicating extreme poverty.

Since most of the world's poor population are scattered in developing countries, Wolfensohn urged those countries do more to reform their economies and cut out corruption. He also called on developed countries to back those reforms with increased support.

Wolfensohn continued to speak about the significance of the conference, the first of its kind aimed to share poverty reduction experience among developing countries.

While looking at the major progress in poverty reduction over the last ten years, Wolfensohn spoke highly of China's various poverty reduction programs. He contributed the success to China's rapid and dynamic economic growth driven by the market-oriented reforms launched in 1978.

Finally, Wolfensohn called on all the participants to bring the world from an unbalanced place to a harmonious one. He called for more efforts into children education and fighting against corruption. He expressed his hope that the world would achieve unprecedented progress in restoring hope and balance to the world of the next generation.

(CCTV May 26, 2004)