Azerbaijan, Baku, May 7 / Trend A. Akhundov /
The 48th Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Governors will be held in Baku in 2015.
The decision was made by the ADB Board of Governors at the meeting in Manila, Philippines, the Azerbaijani finance ministry 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.
The Minister informed the participants about Azerbaijan's intention to hold a meeting of the ADB Board of Governors in Baku in 2015. He stressed that the country's current economic situation, political stability, as well as infrastructure corresponding to the highest standards allow holding such an important event.
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.