Correspondents: What do you think about China-African relations given the upcoming China-Africa summit in Beijing?

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz speaks during the third plenary EITI conferance in Oslo on October 16, 2006. [Reuters]

Paul Wolfowitz: I think the summit is a terrific idea; and I have been saying over and over again in speeches that Africa needs to be following the example that has been pioneered, especially in East Asia; where 400 million people have escaped poverty in the last quarter century. That makes it the best quarter century in the history in the fight against poverty, and 70-75% of that number is in China itself and that example is truly inspirational for poor countries in Africa.

So, if China did nothing else just by showing that it is possible to succeed in that way, just by showing that no matter how awful your colonial history may have been ¡§C and certainly China's was pretty awful ¡§C you can take charge of your own destiny. And also by showing, what I believe the economic reforms that started late 70s and early 80s show, is that getting the right policy environment is crucial to success. I have in many audiences enjoyed quoting the famous saying from Deng Xiao Ping, "That doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white as long as it catches mice." The essence of success here is to see what works and not be doctrinaire.

Now that China has achieved what I call middle income status-- and it is long way from being a rich country but it is no longer a poor country, there is a lot that China can actually do in Africa in terms of bringing resources that are badly needed, and in terms of bringing expertise that's badly needed. So, I think if the last quarter century was the chance for East Asia to turn the corner in the fight against poverty, I very much hope that this quarter century will be the chance for Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa to do the same thing. It is the only part of the world that's really been left out of this progress in recent years and it is very important that it be brought into it.

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