世行行長承諾與亞投行創新合作

The World Bank’s US-appointed president has vowed to find “innovative” ways to work with a new Chinese-led Asian infrastructure bank, welcoming it as a “major new player” in the world of development.

美國任命的世界銀行(World Bank)行長承諾，要找到“創新”的方式與中國主導的亞洲基礎設施投資銀行（Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank，簡稱“亞投行”）開展合作，對後者成爲發展領域的一個“重量級新成員”表示歡迎。”

The overture by Jim Yong Kim comes ahead of next week’s World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington. It also marks a split with the administration of US president Barack Obama, which nominated the doctor and former university president to head the World Bank in 2012.

金墉(Jim Yong Kim，見上圖)發表善意言論之際，世行和國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)將於下週在華盛頓開會。此言也標誌着他的觀點與奧巴馬政府有所不同；奧巴馬政府在2012年提名這位醫生和前大學校長執掌世行。

With geopolitical imperatives and its competition with China for influence in the Pacific Rim in mind, the US unsuccessfully lobbied allies such as Australia, Japan and the UK not to join the nascent Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

美國的立場受到地緣政治必要性和美中在太平洋週邊角逐影響力這一現實的驅使，但它未能成功遊說盟國（如澳大利亞、日本和英國）不加入亞投行。

Behind that push by Washington has also been a desire to protect the Bretton Woods institutions over which the US and Europe now wield veto power. So the move by one of those institutions’ heads to break from the US and outline co-operation with the new institution marks another blow to Washington.

美方努力背後的另一個願望是捍衛美國和歐洲現在擁有否決權的佈雷頓森林機構。因此，這些機構的掌門人之一現在偏離美國官方立場，提出與新機構合作，標誌着華盛頓方面受到又一次打擊。

Dr Kim has said he was willing to work with the AIIB before. But in a speech yesterday in Washington he offered his strongest endorsement yet of the AIIB, putting it high on the meeting agenda.

金墉之前曾表示他願意與亞投行合作。但昨日在華盛頓發表講話時，他對亞投行給予了迄今最強烈的肯定，將其列爲會議議程上的重要議題。

Calling the AIIB and its fellow start-up, the Brics-backed New Development Bank, “potentially strong allies” for the World Bank that could become “great new forces” to help the world’s poor, he pledged to collaborate with them.

他形容亞投行和另一個初創機構、金磚國家支持的新開發銀行(New Development Bank)是世行“潛在的強大盟友”，有望成爲幫助世界上窮人的“偉大的新生力量”。他承諾與這些新機構合作。

“If the world’s multilateral banks, including the new ones, can form alliances, work together, and support development . . . we all benefit — especially the poor and most vulnerable,” he said. “I will do everything in my power to find innovative ways to work with these banks.”

“如果世界上的多邊銀行，包括那些新機構，可以結成聯盟，開展合作，支持發展事業……大家都將受益，尤其是窮人和最弱勢的羣體，”他表示。“我會盡己所能，找到創新的方式與這些銀行合作。”

One of those potential ways would be encouraging the AIIB to help finance projects run by the World Bank and subject to its environmental, labour and social standards, Dr Kim said ahead of the speech. Such a move would help address one of the fears expressed by the US as well as environmental and other advocacy groups over the AIIB.

金墉在發表講話之前表示，潛在合作方式之一將是鼓勵亞投行幫助爲世行的項目融資，並遵守世行的環境、勞工和社會標準。此舉將有助於化解美國以及環保和其他倡導團體對亞投行的擔心之一。

Washington argues that with big questions still lingering over its governance structures there is a risk that the AIIB’s forays into developing countries will look much like China’s sometimes destructive and recent protest-inducing pushes into Africa and developing countries in Asia such as Myanmar.

華盛頓方面提出，在治理架構仍有很大問題的情況下，存在一個風險，即亞投行進軍發展中國家的舉動，看上去將很像中國進軍非洲和緬甸等亞洲發展中國家的努力，這些努力有時是破壞性的，近年還往往引發抗議。

Dr Kim is due to meet Lou Jiwei, the Chinese finance minister, at next week’s meetings and he said he was looking forward to a “long session” with Mr Lou to discuss the AIIB and its collaboration with the World Bank.

金墉將在下週會議上與中國財政部長樓繼偉會晤。他表示，他期待着與樓繼偉“開一個長會”，好好談談亞投行及其與世行的合作。

To generate growth and meet the needs of rising populations the developing world needs an extra $1tn-$1.5tn each year to build bridges, roads, railways and other infrastructure, Dr Kim said. The world’s existing development banks lacked the resources to meet those needs, he said. To succeed, he said, more funding for projects needed to come from the private sector and new entrants such as the AIIB, which so far has a capital base of less than $100bn.

金墉表示，爲了促進增長，滿足日益增長的人口的需求，發展中國家每年需要額外的1萬億至1.5萬億美元建設橋樑、公路、鐵路等基礎設施。他承認，世界上現有的開發銀行缺乏滿足這些需求的資源。他說，要取得成功，需要由私營部門和亞投行這樣的新進入者提供更多項目資金。亞投行目前的資本基礎不到1000億美元。

“These goals are ambitious — there’s more than enough work to go around,” Dr Kim said. “We’re talking about trillions of dollars — which means that we must be creative and use our resources.”

“這些目標是雄心勃勃的，大家都會有非常多的工作要做，”金墉說。“我們談論的是數萬億美元，這意味着我們必須有創意，利用好我們的資源。”