On Oct 16, the 112th meeting of the joint World Bank Group-International Monetary Fund Development Committee was convened in Washington, D.C., centering discussions around the report Foundations for Growth and Jobs. 

The meeting was chaired by Elisabeth Svantesson, Chair of the Development Committee and Minister of Finance of Sweden. Attendees included representatives from the 25 constituencies, World Bank Group (WBG) President Ajay Banga, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, and World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. 

Liao Min, China’s Vice Minister of Finance and Alternate Governor of the WBG, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. 

The WBG received universal support for its focus on employment, and its proactive efforts to pool diverse  financial and knowledge resources for key infrastructure. It also gained support for its efforts to help developing countries improve business environment, boost private-sector development, and create more high-quality jobs. 

Liao said that China hopes the WBG will help foster a more open and stable economic and trade environment and support developing countries in improving their infrastructure and institutional frameworks. 

He emphasized the importance of building labor structures adapting to the digital economy and green transformation to fully unleash their population dividends and economic growth potential. He added that China is implementing an employment-first strategy and is ready to share its development experience with other developing countries through the WBG. 

Quoting the Global Governance Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping , Liao said that China is willing to work with all countries to help promote the building of a fairer and more equitable global governance system. The WBG is one of the world’s most influential multilateral institutions, China expects the WBG to uphold multilateral consensus and rules and use the 2025 shareholding review as an opportunity to further enhance the representation and voice of developing countries, to effectively address the long-standing and severe under-representation of some members including China, thus safeguarding the WBG’s legitimacy and credibility. 

On the sidelines of the meeting, Liao also attended the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable and the COP30 Circle of Finance Ministerial Meeting . He met with WBG President Ajay Banga, WBG Managing Director of Operations Anna Bjerde, WBG Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer Anshula Kant, IMF First Deputy Managing Director Dan Katz, IMF Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, International Fund for Agricultural Development President Alvaro Lario, and UK Minister for International Development Baroness Chapman, separately. They exchanged views on issues such as macroeconomic situation, global imbalances, sovereign debt, the WBG’s governance reform, and Renminbi-denominated loans.