QINGXIN, Guangdong: Guangdong Development Bank (GDB) president Michael Zink shook hands with pupils at Daluo Primary School in Qingxin County yesterday, heralding a charity campaign to spread education and improve people's livelihood.

The mountainous county of Qingxin in northern Guangdong is one of the poverty-stricken areas of the province.

"Improving education for children here will lead to a sustainable development. Besides banking, we also want to take part in charity to help local people improve their livelihood," the newly appointed GDB president said.

Zink led a team of senior bank officials to present awards to 44 students at the school. This is the first time that top GDB executives had taken part in a charity campaign after the bank got the Citigroup-led consortium's approval for capital input at the end of last year.

GDB was established in 1988 and developed into a national bank with assets worth 370 billion yuan ($46.25 billion) and more than 500 subsidiary offices across the country.

The bank donated books and stationery worth 20,000 yuan ($2,564) to the school last year, and provided more than 100,000 yuan ($12,820) in 2005 to spread education in Qingxin. GDB sources said.

Also, it donated 138,000 yuan ($17,692) in 2005 for three water irrigation projects in the area that usually was hit by droughts every year.

(China Daily 02/08/2007 page4)