BEIJING - China expects the next president of the World Bank to promote governance structure reform, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Wednesday.

Liu made the remarks at a routine press briefing while commenting on the election process for the next World Bank president, as candidates for the position have been undergoing interviews.

China hopes the next president will further enhance developing countries' rights to speak and represent themselves at the World Bank, and, therefore, make contributions to global poverty reduction and development, he added.

Liu said the election of the next World Bank president has been following the open, transparent and merit-based process for the first time. The process reflects the G20's consensus on international financial institutional reform and its substantive progress.