South-South Knowledge Exchange between China and the Middle East and North Africa Region

China has committed itself to be a partner in South-South Cooperation.  Over the past forty years, China has pursued a successful path of deliberate and scientific economic development that has lifted hundreds of millions of its citizens out of poverty and into a modern economy.  The many lessons from China’s experience are relevant to other developing countries as they pursue their own goals of sustainable prosperity and poverty elimination.

The World Bank’s partnership with China is uniquely positioned to support South-South Cooperation as a bridge linking China’s rich development experience with the specific needs and challenges of the Bank’s client countries in other parts of the world.  Together, China and the World Bank are able to package and deliver rich and relevant expertise, knowledge, and advanced technologies to South-South partner countries through knowledge sharing platforms, hands-on training workshops, practical study tours, and strategic project investments.

A high-level delegation from the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) visited China from January 29 to February 5, 2018 for a South-South cooperation and knowledge sharing study tour.  The MENA region faces many challenges similar to those faced in China’s arid northwest; and China’s development experience in agriculture development, water management, and poverty reduction provide useful lessons for the MENA countries as they look to better manage scarce water resources and improve rural livelihoods back home.  The study tour was jointly facilitated by the World Bank Agriculture Global Practice and the Bank’s Beijing office, and was financed by the China-World Bank Partnership Facility Trust Fund (CWPF TF).