The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday concluded the 44th Annual Meeting of its Board of Governors in Hanoi, Vietnam and announced that the 2012 meeting would take place in Manila, the Philippines.
The ADB meeting in Hanoi started on 3 May and gathered a record number of around 4,000 delegates including finance ministers and other key policymakers, business leaders, and academics. Civil society representatives and media also attended in record numbers.
Key issues at this year’s meeting included soaring food and fuel prices, infrastructure and connectivity, and climate change as well as how Asia and the Pacific can ensure a prosperous future in coming decades.
Record high commodity prices are already pushing millions back below the $1.25 a day poverty line. Meanwhile, rising energy usage in Asia and the Pacific is deepening the region’s carbon footprint. These, along with economic and demographic issues, need to be tackled if developing Asia’s 3.3 billion people are to improve their livelihoods in the immediate and the longer term.
Initial findings of ADB’s upcoming study, Asia 2050—Realizing the Asian Century, presented at a seminar on 4 May, said Asia and the Pacific could account for half of the world economy by 2050, up from around quarter now, if it deals with these issues head on.
Asia-Pacific’s growing economic clout also needs to be reflected in a change to the international monetary system with the region assuming a larger role and greater responsibility for global monetary and economic stability, said participants at another high-level seminar on 4 May.
That ADB-IMF-Japanese ASEAN+3 Co-chair-French G20 Presidency seminar gathered ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda with French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde; Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee; Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda; and Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Naoyuki Shinohara.
The Board of Governors is ADB’s highest policy-making body and the annual meetings are statutory occasions at which Governors can provide guidance on ADB’s administrative, financial, and operational priorities.
