Sharing the development experience of Beijing
This has been a milestone year for China. The 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China was a coming out party that signified the country's growing international maturity and significance. At the same time, the global economic crisis led to calls for China to play a stronger role in global economic and financial leadership.
It also prompted a review by the international community of the role of China and other large, advanced middle-income countries in the international financial system. And most importantly, by quickly and effectively implementing a massive economic stimulus package and maintaining strong growth in a year when many major economies have been in recession, China has demonstrated the strong economic role it is capable of playing regionally and globally.
But it is not only in macroeconomic management that China is emerging as a major regional and global player. After 31 years of opening up and reform, it has a number of remarkable domestic success stories to its name. In addition to creating a strong export manufacturing sector, rapidly urbanizing and building an impressive infrastructure, China has lifted 500 million people out of poverty. In many areas, it has drawn on the experience of other countries in support of its rapid development, but increasingly it has been ready and willing to share its own development experience with others.
The Ministry of Finance, the Shanghai Municipal Government and the Asian Development Bank organized a workshop from Nov 2 to 6 to exchange and share experiences in sustainable urban development. Participants from 10 other Asian countries were treated to presentations and site-visits showcasing how Shanghai had developed into one of the world's most advanced megacities, and the solutions that the city has piloted and adopted to address different aspects of its rapid urbanization.
Shanghai's urbanization is based on a master plan with several multifunctional nodes, efficient density, interlinked public transport networks and comprehensive supportive infrastructure. Urban renewal and environmental rehabilitation projects illustrate the city's determination to achieve balanced growth, and innovative financing mechanisms include significant private sector involvement. Some approaches are hi-tech and many are environmentally friendly. Most importantly, many of these solutions are directly relevant to the challenges being faced by other Asian cities.
There are numerous recent examples of such sharing of China's knowledge and experience. In October, the State Council Lead Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank hosted an international conference on community-driven development and rural poverty alleviation. Conference presentations drew on experience of countries ranging from Brazil and Ethiopia to Indonesia and Pakistan. Chinese presentations focused on experience in community driven development initiatives with farmers' cooperatives, and the participation of rural communities in the planning and implementation of water resource and environmental projects.
In recent years, China has worked closely with the World Bank and other development partners to share its development experience, and in particular its success in reducing poverty, with African countries.
China's success stories in many areas are relevant to other countries, and offer significant potential for knowledge sharing.
One of the keys to China's rapid and successful urbanization has been its ability to stimulate cooperation and competition among cities and municipalities, and to disseminate and share the results of pilot projects effectively.
The tide is clearly turning. China will continue to benefit from the experience of other countries in particular as it rebalances and gears to meet the challenges of a global economy emerging from crisis.
But at the same time, it is rapidly assuming a leadership role as an international source of development knowledge and experience.
The author is Asian Development Bank's Country Director for China.
(China Daily 12/17/2009 page9)
