Singapore  - The World Bank and Singapore signed an agreement Thursday to set up an urban hub in the city-state to provide and facilitate advice and technical assistance to developing countries on urban management, water and resource management, city financing and urban design.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick and Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo signed the agreement, under which the two sides said they would collaborate to meet growing demand from developing countries for technical advice, especially on urban management.

"Countries across the world are struggling with the sheer scale of the urban challenge before them," Zoellick said.

"With hundreds of million people moving from rural areas to cities every year, governments need to find sensible solutions to managing the demand for land, water and jobs while also ensuring their cities remain livable and socially cohesive," he said.

The World Bank's Singapore hub would initially provide advise and technical services to South-East Asian countries but would expand to other Asian countries, including China, and would eventually go global, especially to Africa, he said.

Work was already under way on a civil service development project in Laos, the World Bank said. (dpa)