Asian recovery, Afghan reconstruction to dominate ADB talks
Asian recovery, Afghan reconstruction to dominate ADB talks
Agence France-Presse
Manila
Sustaining economic recovery with an assault on poverty in
Asia and rebuilding war-ravaged Afghanistan are the main issues
at an upcoming Asian Development Bank's meeting, the bank's chief
said.
Some 3,000 delegates will attend the 35th annual meeting of
ADB's board of governors in Shanghai from May 10 to 12.
ADB President Tadao Chino said the meeting among 60 member
countries would help track the region's economic outlook which
could be clouded by oil price increases following the Middle East
conflict.
"A major challenge now is to bring back Asian economies on a
steady and sustainable growth path" after a four-year turmoil
following the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Chino told AFP in
an interview ahead of the meeting.
The Manila-based ADB is forecasting that developing Asia would
achieve an average growth of 4.8 percent in 2002 and 5.8 percent
in 2003 after posting 3.7 percent in 2001, he said.
Chino said gradual recovery in global trade and moderate
improvement in capital flows to Asia and strong domestic demand
in many developing nations would support the region's economies.
He said the strengthening of the U.S. economy should brighten
the outlook for other economies worldwide, including the Euro
area and Japan, he said.
"However there are concerns," he warned. "One concern for
developing Asia is the oil price (and its associated effects).
The destructive events in the Middle East could cause oil markets
to send the price higher."
The ADB annual talks would also seek feedback on the bank's
poverty-busting strategy, in line with a United Nations goal to
halve poverty by 2015 as part of so-called millennium development
goals (MDG).
"We recognise the MDG of halving poverty by 2015 is ambitious
but we are confident it can be achieved in many Asian countries,"
Chino said.
Some 900 million people in Asia are living in poverty and they
make up 70 percent of the world's poor.
Another key topic in the Shanghai talks is ADB's participation
in Afghanistan's reconstruction and recovery following the U.S.-
led war against terror there.
The ADB is leading work in four areas -- agriculture,
education, transport and the environment in Afghanistan.
"For our part, ADB is preparing an initial country strategy
and program for the next three years and we tentatively have
identified a program of about US$200 million in assistance for
2002 with similar levels of assistance for 2003 and 2004," Chino
said.
The ADB had pledged up to $500 million over the next two and a
half years for Afghanistan.