Investment in infra remains top priority—ADB

Investment in infrastructure will remain a priority of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as the bank prepares a new long-term strategy to respond to rapid regional changes, said ADB presi­dent Takehiko Nakao at the 50^th Annual Meeting of ADB’s Board of Governors held recently in Yokohama, Japan.

ADB’s Annual Meeting hosts about 6,000 government officials, academics, business officers, civil society representa­tives, and members of the media. Under the theme “Building Together the Pros­perity of Asia,” the Annual Meeting is also a celebration of ADB’s 50 years of develop­ment work in Asia and the Pacific.

Nakao said ADB’s achievements over the past half century can be summarized as combining knowledge and finance, promoting good policies, and fostering re­gional cooperation and friendship.

Nakao said that ADB’s future direc­tion will be led by Strategy 2030, ADB’s new long-term strategy that will map the best ways ADB can support Asia’s growth and address development challenges in­cluding poverty, climate change, urban­ization, aging, and widening inequalities. ADB continues to hold consultations on the strategy with a wide range of stake­holders from around the region and in do­nor countries.

Investment in infrastructure will be an ADB priority under Strategy 2030, includ­ing enhanced support for infrastructure projects that incorporate advanced tech­nologies.

Nakao remarked that “Asia will need $1.7 trillion per year in investments in power, transport, telecommunications, and water through 2030.”

Support for social sectors, especially health and education, is a second ADB priority area under Strategy 2030. For this,

Nakao stated that ADB “will support uni­versal healthcare systems and cross-bor­der initiatives to combat communicable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV.”

Strategy 2030 will also prioritize support for gender equality. Gender is a cross-cutting issue that influences all as­pects of society and economic develop­ment. According to Nakao, ADB will “de­sign projects that help women and girls secure higher skills, better health, more jobs, and a larger voice in decision-mak­ing.”

ADB will upgrade efforts to mobilize private resources for development, in­cluding through public–private partner­ships under the emerging new long-term strategy. “ADB is supporting an increasing number of private sector projects in edu­cation, health, and agriculture,” said Na­kao. “Funding micro-, small-, and medi­um-sized enterprises through local banks will remain a priority.”

Nakao also stressed the need to con­tinue to reform ADB as part of Strategy 2030. Among the reforms, he said ADB will “strengthen its sector and themat­ic expertise, enhance staff capacity, and streamline procedures.” He added that the institution will deepen its collabora­tion with civil society, academia, the pri­vate sector, and local governments.

Nakao highlighted ADB’s progress in 2016. He noted that total ADB op­erations last year, including cofinancing and technical assistance, reached $31.7 billion. ADB’s loan and grant approvals reached a record high of $17.5 billion, a 9% increase from the previous year. Climate finance reached $3.7 billion, up from $2.6 billion in 2015. Cofinanc­ing with public and private partners in­creased to $13.9 billion. This includes ADB’s first two cofinanced projects with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for roads in Pakistan and a natural gas project in Bangladesh.