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.