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ADB targets to complete long-term strategy by mid-2018
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is eyeing to finish its new long-term strategy until 2030 by middle of this year, its top executive said on Saturday.
In a speech at the closing session of the Board of Governors at the 51st ADB Annual Meeting in Mandaluyong City, ADB President Takehiko Nakao cited the lending institution's 10 priorities for its "Strategy 2030."
"We plan to complete Strategy 2030 by mid-2018. We already held extensive consultations...our task ahead is to reinvent ADB and meet the challenges of a transforming Asia and the Pacific," he said.
The Manila-based lending agency's focus in the next 12 years remains addressing poverty and increasing inequality in the region.
Nakao said ADB will help create quality jobs, promote secondary and tertiary education, expand universal health care, and strengthen social protection programs.
It will also focus on "lagging areas and pockets of poverty even in middle-income countries," he said.
To accelerate progress in gender inequality, the official vowed that ADB would continue to incorporate gender elements when designing and implementing projects and programs.
To combat climate change, he said ADB will help countries achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement and will invest in the conservation and restoration of natural capital.
The multilateral lender will also help in building "livable cities that are competitive, green, resilient, and inclusive," he said, citing the need to support the multimodal mass public transport systems in cities, clean water and sanitation, and urban health facilities.
ADB will also support advanced technologies in farming in order to promote rural development and food security, Nakao said.
Strengthening governance will also be ADB's focus in the next decade in order to raise standards for environmental and social safeguards, sound financial management, and anti-corruption, he said.
The official said ADB will also foster regional cooperation and integration by promoting regional public goods such as transportation and logistical networks, and protection against communicable diseases.
The lending agency will also mobilize private sector resources, such as through use of public?private partnerships, to meet the region’s huge development financing needs, he said.
Nakao said ADB also aims to further strengthen its role as a provider and facilitator of knowledge.
"ADB’s knowledge work will strengthen the network of scholars and think tanks in Asia and beyond, and offer Asian perspectives," he said.
In order to achieve its goals, he said ADB will continue to use its financial resources efficiently and creatively by investing on its workforce.
"We will expand our presence on the ground. We will dramatically modernize business processes to speed up our services to clients," he added.
The 52nd ADB annual meeting next year will be held in Fiji. Celerina Monte/DMS
