BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhuanet)-- President of the Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB) Haruhiko Kuroda said in Beijing on Sunday that the ADB will offer more support to China's rural development in the future.

    Kuroda made the remark at the China Development Forum 2006, which opened in Beijing on Sunday. He said the ADB is glad to knowthat China's 11th Five Year Plan targets rural development as one of the country's top priorities.

    Kuroda said with about 60 percent of its population engaged in the agriculture sector, China should give priority to the development in the poorest rural areas.

    Kuroda suggests the Chinese government focus on improving ruralinfrastructure, diversifying crop production, and adopting integrated, environmentally friendly approaches to farming.

    Rebuilding the rural financial system will relieve the lack of financial services that constrain farmers' investment options, said Kuroda.

    Kuroda said creating sufficient job opportunities for China's large number of rural laborers is also critically important.

    "This is a major and ongoing challenge which will require greater private sector development, as well as vocational trainingfor rural migrants." he said.

    According to Kuroda, the ADB is designing a vocational trainingprogram for rural migrants in south China's Guangdong province, which will be expanded to other provinces.

    A recent ADB study shows that a basic social development and poverty reduction program for the rural areas would be affordable even in China's current fiscal circumstances.

    For 100 billion yuan a year, the Chinese government could establish a rural minimum living standard support system to help about 25 million of the poorest people, provide free nine-year compulsory education for 120 million students in the rural areas; establish a basic rural health care system to cover all 770 million farmers; and speed up the poverty reduction program in 148,000 of the poorest villages nationwide.

    Kuroda said although ambitious, the goal is achievable. Given that fiscal revenue increased by about 500 billion yuan per year in the past two years, such an outlay is quite feasible, and wouldgo a long way in making growth more inclusive and equitable.

    Over the next three years, ADB's lending to China is expected to total about 4.5 billion U.S. dollars, in which more money and programs will be related to China's rural development, said Kuroda.

    Kuroda said the ADB has operated intensively in agricultural and rural development in Asian countries for the past four decades,including in China.

    He expressed hopes to expand both ADB's lending operations and knowledge sharing with China in areas like rural infrastructure, bio-gas development, rural industrial promotion, rural financial reform, poverty reduction in the poor regions, vocational trainingfor rural migrants, reform in rural health system, environmental protection and energy efficiency. Enditem