During a meeting on the evening of March 27 with Gu Qingjin, deputy governor of Guizhou, Le Anh Vu, a senior WB official, said the projected online center will help increase cultural and educational contacts between Guizhou and other parts of the world.

Le is leading a five-member delegation which has been in the southwestern province making preliminary investigations towards launching the online center.

The center is designed to increase the channels through which people in developing countries receive education and acquire knowledge.

According to an agreement signed between WB and Guizhou, the online center will be built with US$500,000 donated by the World Bank.

The projected center will help Guizhou train more professionals by making knowledge of advanced management and information technology available via long-distance educational means.

Guizhou has been working with WB since 1983 and has signed agreements with loans worth US$238 million, for 22 projects associated with infrastructure, poverty eradication and education.

(China Daily March 29, 2002)