With its stunning, modern architecture, crisp blue skies, and myriad influences, Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, provides a dramatic backdrop for ADB’s 47th Meeting of the Board of Governors that starts 2 May and concludes three days later.
Where are Asia’s economies headed to in the short and long term? What shape are they in to withstand future financial crises? And how can they respond to the yawning rich-poor divide, now a key concern among Asian and global policymakers? These were some of the key points discussed over the first two days of business at our 47th Annual Meeting, held in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Almost 1,500 years ago in the sixth and seventh century, southern Kazakhstan was part of the famous Silk Road that carried goods, ideas and cultural influences from as far as China to Europe.
We’ve wrapped up our 47th Annual Meeting in Astana today with plenty of food for thought on what lies ahead for our vast, diverse region.
The next great innovation in development may come not from an international expert, but from a graduate student in Nepal who can’t afford to consult scholarly materials published behind expensive paywalls in commercial academic journals with restrictive terms of use. Publicly and easily available ADB research could help the student grow that idea into a project to fight poverty, promote inclusive growth, or reduce the effects of climate change in Asia and the Pacific.
The start of May means birds, flowers and warmer weather in some parts of the world, but for ADB, it marks the biggest and busiest event in our calendar year – the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors.
As ADB's 48th Annual Meeting draws to a close, it's time to reflect on highlights such as livable cities, partnerships, regional integration, collaboration with AIIB, the ADF-OCR merger – as well as admire the host city and look forward to next year's meeting in Frankfurt, Germany.
The private sector alone could raise up to $10 trillion for development finance in Asia; let's direct that investment toward meeting the SDGs.
The fruits of Asia's economic growth need to be shared equally, and must be sustained over the longer term. We simply cannot afford to be complacent.
We analyze the results of our December survey as ADB lending in 2016 reached $31.5 billion in 2016.
