Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Monday extended her welcome to Jim Yong Kim, new President of World Bank Group, the sister agency of IMF, and looked forward to a close partnership between the two agencies.
"It is with great pleasure that I extend a warm welcome to Jim Yong Kim on his first day as President of the World Bank Group.
Given our common membership and global mandates, the Fund and the Bank have a special responsibility to work together, and Jim and I have already agreed that we will be collaborating closely," Lagarde said in a statement.
"It is with our shared objectives in mind that I congratulate my new colleague on his important position. I look forward to working with him in the years ahead," she added.
Kim on Sunday succeeded Robert Zoellick to lead the global development organization and started working in the Bank on Monday.
World Bank's new chief stresses tackling global growth risks
On his first day as
president of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim stressed on Monday the role of
the 188-member organization in helping address global growth risks and
providing development assistance. 
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim speaks to the media after arriving at the World Bank headquarters for his first day on the job in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, July 2, 2012. Dr. Kim, a Korean-American public health expert and Dartmouth University president, officially replaced Robert Zoellick as World Bank President on Sunday. (Xinhua/Zhang Jun)
The World Bank has an economic and moral imperative to help address risks to global growth, no matter where they emerge. A strong global economy benefits all countries, and a weak one makes all countries vulnerable, Kim said in a statement released on Monday."The global economy remains highly vulnerable. We need to boost confidence in markets and within the private sector. And we need to boost confidence among citizens that our economic system and policies can deliver more sustainable, fair and inclusive economic growth," said the former president of the U.S. Dartmouth College.
"My immediate priority will be to intensify the World Bank's efforts to help developing countries maintain progress against poverty in these volatile times," he stressed.
The Washington-based global organization recently lowered its economic growth forecast for 2012 to 5.3 percent for developing countries, adding that those countries' budgets and central banks were not as well placed as they were in 2008 and 2009 to address slowing economies.
It is urgent that European countries take all necessary measures to restore stability because their actions will impact growth in all regions of the world, Kim added.
The Korean-American public health expert highlighted the importance of working with World Bank clients and partners to create a new economic firewall -- one that protects people in developing countries against shocks.
"The World Bank substantially increased its lending during and after the global financial crisis. We must continue to build more effective and sustainable ways to ensure citizens have basic income protection, and access to education, health care and energy, " he said.
The World Bank committed 52.6 billion U.S. dollars to help promote economic growth and overcome poverty in developing countries during its fiscal year 2012 that ended on June 30.
During a media roundtable meeting held on Monday, Kim said he aimed at building the 188-member World Bank into a client-oriented agency and providing technical and other assistance to member countries, in a bid to boost prosperity and eradicate poverty.
The World Bank is the most important development institution and a great "academic institution" with more data than any other organization about development, he told a group of reporters.
Kim on Sunday succeeded Robert Zoellick to lead the global development organization. The Korean-born physician takes the presidency of the Bank against a backdrop of simmering eurozone debt crisis.
Kim exuded confidence in a bigger role of the Bank on the global stage, stating: "I believe the World Bank's best days are still ahead."
The economic success of emerging market economies and the unprecedented penetration of new technologies are challenging old development paradigms. Strengthening the World Bank's leadership as the premier development institution will mean continuing to adapt to a world that is changing profoundly, the new president observed.
VietNamNet/Xinhuanet
