Leautier made the promise at the end of the infoDev Symposium 2002, which was jointly initiated by the World Bank and China's Ministry of Finance to boost the information industries of developing countries.

China and World Bank enjoyed successful cooperation in the field of information technology, said Mohsen Kahlil, director of Global Information and Communication Technologies of the World Bank.

China was becoming a heavyweight player in the field of information and telecommunications as it had moved up from a ranking of 64 to 43 in the Network Readiness Index Scale, according to the E-commerce and Development Report 2002 delivered by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNTAD).

World Bank financial help would mainly come in three forms: lending, investment and grants, said Mohsen Kahlil.

Bruno Lanvin, manager of infoDev of the World Bank, said that besides financial assistance, the World Bank also helped China to improve policies and human resources construction in the information field.

Jin Liqun, Vice-Minister of Finance, said the cooperation between China and World Bank, which was based on equality, was quite meaningful.

The World Bank had helped the nation to achieve sustainable development in the fields of education and public health and absorbing international experience, and in return, China had made its own contributions through active cooperation with the World Bank, said the official.

Through cooperation with the World Bank China had successfully set up a new model of relationship between the international organization and a member country, Jin told the symposium.

Over 250 high-ranking officials, experts and business delegates from 20 countries including China, the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, India, Thailand and Vietnam attended the two-day symposium in Chongqing, southwest China.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2002)