The World Bank said it is \”exploring\” the possibility of
establishing more offices in China to facilitate its local
programs.

\”We are seriously exploring it,\” David Dollar, the bank\’s
country director for China, told China Daily.

The bank\’s president Robert Zoellick visited China in
mid-December and discussed the issue with Chongqing municipality
head Bo Xilai. Bo suggested the bank send a special
representative to Chongqing to facilitate cooperation if a branch
was not immediately possible.

Dollar said that scenario was reasonable. \”Most of our
activities are at the local government level, provincial or even
county level,\” he said. \”We work with a lot of local governments
around China.\”

Establishing a local office would provide more face-to-face
contact with local governments, he said.

In Chongqing, for example, the bank and the municipal government
want to work together on rural-urban migration, vocational
training, foreign investment, improving public transport and energy
efficiency.

China is the World Bank\’s biggest client by number of projects,
with 75 currently under way across the country, he said.

(China Daily February 21, 2008)