Urban & Local Government Strategy Press Coverage

The Summit brought together infrastructure finance experts, investors, and senior government officials, and marked Singapore's emergence as a regional hub for infrastructure financing and expertise on urban development.

In his opening statement, Zoellick drew attention to the demographic shift that is changing the landscape of the developing world. “For the first time in history, more than half the world’s people live in cities,” he said. “The epicenter of this transformation is the developing world where over 90 percent of urban growth is now taking place.”

Bob Zoellick emphasizing the benefits of the new urban strategyZoellick focused on the development agenda ahead by stressing that in the next two decades the urban population of the world’s two poorest regions—South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa—is expected to double. Underscoring how the Bank’s new Urban Strategy will help developing countries face this challenge, Zoellick said that “urbanization is a vital phase of development and, if well managed, can be a key driver of long-term economic growth in a country,”

“That's why it is so important for the global community to help developing countries address the urbanization challenge,” he continued. “It is fitting to launch our Urban Strategy in Singapore, a world-recognized leader in urban planning.”

By establishing the World Bank-Singapore Urban Hub, the Bank is seeking to leverage the expertise of Singapore in city management - for example, in areas such as water resource management, zoning regulation, and user charges for infrastructure, and share it with other developing countries.

Singapore is well recognized for its extensive city management and public-private partnership experience. Through its partnership with Singapore, the Bank hopes to help developing countries tap into that experience as they take advantage of the economic opportunities associated with rapid urbanization.

Singapore's Minister for Finance, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, noted that “as a city-state, Singapore has learned many lessons in urban management, often after years of experimentation. This is an exciting partnership with the World Bank, which will allow us to share what we have learnt with others at a time of massive urbanization in Asia.”