Emerging China in World Bank

China is starting to play a bigger role in the World Bank and can be an important partner in helping development in places such as Africa as it becomes an aid giver instead of an aid recipient, the bank's president said Tuesday.

Robert Zoellick said he welcomed the news that China, which once received grants from the World Bank's International Development Association, is now a contributor to it.

That included a contribution at a recent meeting of the IDA, which provides grants and loans to the world's poorest countries.

"This is an example of China being a stakeholder in the field of development," Zoellick told a news conference at the end of a four-day visit. The undisclosed amount was a "modest but also significant step," he said.

China stopped taking loans from the IDA in 1999 after having received more than US$9.9 billion, but last week was the first time it started to contribute.

Although China has fewer voting shares in the bank than some developed countries, it still has an "influential" voice, he said. The bank is also recruiting Chinese staff, including senior staff, Zoellick said.

Zoellick said he discussed debt sustainability with Chinese officials because of worries some of the poorest countries would never be able to pay back their loans.

"Many developed countries have forgiven the debt of some of the poorest countries and so there's a legitimate concern about building that debt up again," he said.

He said that while China no longer needs financing from the World Bank, it still needs expertise to help shape its development agenda. That includes such things as providing microfinance initiatives in rural areas, raising China's energy efficiency and improving its environment.

Photos-China's Premier Wen Jiabao meets with the World Bank president Robert Zoellick at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing December 17, 2007. [Xinhua]