In his first trip to China as World Bank Group President, Robert Zoellick, once a rival of China in its negotiations for WTO accession, carried with him a precious gift: an old photo from 27 years ago. Standing in the picture are China's former leader Deng Xiaoping and former president of the World Bank, Robert McNamara. The photo is a reminder of the significant occasion when China was pursuing entrance into the World Bank. To pay tribute to Deng, Zoellick contributed the photo to the Exhibition Hall at Deng Xiaoping's Former Residence.

Deng possibly could never have imagined how China eventually came to be embraced by the World Bank, let alone that it would one day be a donor instead of a debtor.

At a news conference held in Beijing on December 18, 2007, the end of a four-day visit to China, Zoellick commended China for the role it is playing in global development and the effort it is making to improve its energy efficiency, and reduce pollution.

"It is a significant breakthrough to have China become a contributor," said Zoellick. China will for the first time contribute to the International Development Association (IDA), the part of the World Bank Group which provides grants and no-interest credits to the world's poorest countries.

"With this contribution, China has moved within less than a decade from being a successful IDA recipient to a global partner," he continued. Since 1981 China has received more than $9.9 billion in IDA credits to support priority projects and strengthen capacity and institutions. China ceased being an IDA client in 1999, when its growing prosperity qualified it for more market-based terms from the World Bank.

Zoellick also applauded the Chinese Government for its ambitious targets of slashing energy consumption, enhancing automobile fuel efficiency standards, and for the important role it is playing in global carbon markets.

"Supporting China in its effort to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases is a top priority of the World Bank in China," Zoellick said.

According to statistics from the World Bank website, since the first loan in 1981 supporting development of Chinese universities, the World Bank's cumulative lending to China was nearly $42.2 billion as of June 30, 2007, involving a total of 284 development projects.

Seventy projects are under implementation, making China's portfolio one of the largest in the bank. Current projects are concentrated in transportation, urban development, rural development, energy and human development.

"Since 2005, around 75 percent of World Bank Group activities have had an environmental objective," said Zoellick.

Furthermore, the World Bank plans to commit $1 billion-1.5 billion in annual investments for poverty relief and environmental protection projects in China. A third-party oversight mechanism will also be instituted to ensure fairness and transparency in the use of these investments, revealed David Dollar, Country Director for China and Mongolia of the World Bank.

To solicit opinions on further cooperation on joint projects, Zoellick visited an urban environmental project in west China's Chongqing Municipality. Infrastructure investments and water utility reforms have assisted this project in sharply curtailing the city's sewage discharge into the Yangtze River. Also in the western province of Sichuan, Zoellick inspected a healthcare project to provide medical assistance to the poor, which was later adopted across the country.

Both Sichuan and Chongqing are major beneficiaries of World Bank loans. The Ertan Hydroelectric Project in Sichuan is one of the crowning achievements of World Bank investments in China.

In Guangzhou, Zoellick met with small business owners who have benefited from small loans to improve their energy efficiency. This program was developed with a commercial bank and financed by the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group's private sector arm.

In addition, Zoellick prodded China to work with other countries on creating best practices tailored to the local context to achieve maximum impact. "We hope to work with China on sharing these lessons in a variety of ways," he said at the press conference in Beijing.

"Synonymous with vitality and opportunity, China is unmatched in the world in its optimism about the future and its readiness to share its information and experience," Zoellick said. "I pin higher hopes than anyone to these environment-friendly projects, as I wish to come back soon to sing and swim in a clean Pearl River."