Azerbaijan, Baku, May 5 / Trend A. Akhundov /
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) today concluded the 45th Annual Meeting of its Board of Governors in Manila, Philippines and announced that the 2013 meeting will take place in Delhi, India, the ADB said today.
ADB's meeting in Manila from 2-5 May gathered a record number of more than 5,000 registered delegates including finance ministers and other key policymakers, business leaders, and academics. Civil society representatives and media also attended in record numbers.
Azerbaijani Finance Minister Samir Sharifov attended the meeting. He held a number of business meetings. The bank's cooperation strategy with the country is discussed at such events. The meetings are held with senior officials.
Key issues at this year's meeting included what Asia must do to adapt to the global economic downturn, build resilience in urban centers, promote green growth, ensure regional food security, and grow trade between Asia and Latin America.
The meeting took place against the backdrop of an Asia and Pacific region that has seen steady growth and is leading global recovery, but is vulnerable to growing inflation, spikes in fuel prices, austerity measures in the eurozone, and worsening impacts of climate change.
ASEAN+3 also announced a doubling of the funds available under the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization, a pool of emergency liquidity for use in times of economic crisis, and the establishment of the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund, with an initial equity of $485 million to finance the development of regional road, rail, power, water and other critical infrastructure needs, which are estimated at about $60 billion a year.
ADB also announced that it secured $12.4 billion for its concessional Asian Development Fund, a 9.5% increase over the previous four-year period. The funds will be used to promote gender mainstreaming, good governance, food security, private sector development and the formation of a Disaster Response Facility.
The ADB was established in 1966 and has 67 members. Azerbaijan became a member of the Asian Development Bank on December 22, 1999. The country's participating share in the bank's capital is 0.5 per cent.
Japan and the US (31.2 per cent of the total share capital), India and China (12.8 per cent), Australia and South Korea and Canada (16 per cent) are the ADB leading shareholders.