Education, rural area upgrade key for sustainable growth

DUBAI - Jennifer Blanke, chief economist of the World Economic Forum (WEF), said here Monday that China's economy would become one of the world's most competitive ones.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua held at the sidelines of Dubai's two-day Government Summit, which runs in its inaugural edition, Blanke said that China has put great emphasis on mathematics and science education at grammar schools in the past.

In order to lift China to the next phase of growth, "which its leadership said shall be sustainable, Beijing must now broaden the range of basic education by stressing foreign languages, economics and social science in early learning," said Blanke.

The WEF's chief economist added that China was still in its early stages to transfer the economic achievements of its prosperous East coast. Blanke said, the Chinese government has committed itself to invest in the infrastructure and economic development of the country's rural areas in Central China and in the west.

"We think the world's second largest economy will see in the next two decades a tremendous boom of its central and western provinces," she said.

In the WEF's ranking for global competitiveness which measures a country's level for delivering basic requirements, economic efficiency and innovation, China currently stands at rank 29.

"We are confident that China will move to the world's top 10, if it broadens the spectrum of basic educational subjects and because it will spread the East coast's success to the rest of the country," said Blanke.