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| Thursday, 10 February 2005 |
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ADB needs to change to meet region's needs, says bank chief MANILA, Wednesday (AFP) The Asian Development Bank needs to change and be more flexible if it is to satisfy the diverse needs of its members, according to its new president Haruhiko Kuroda. While incredible progress has been made in the Asia-Pacific region over the past two decades, both the poor and relatively well off countries need to build their infrastructure, Kuroda said in an interview with AFP. "Some countries have almost completely transformed since the ADB was first established in 1966," he said. "Low income countries have grown into middle income countries and as a result their needs have changed. Poor countries still need fresh water, health, education and sanitation. But middle income countries require expanded physical infrastructure to support their economic growth. "Some countries are still quite poor, some have emerged from conflicts and some are experiencing growth and becoming middle income countries. We have many diversified member countries growing and developing and their needs vary enormously. "That is why we need to be more flexible when addressing individual member needs," Kuroda said. The Manila-based ADB's main aim is still to reduce poverty in the Asia Pacific region through "pro-poor sustainable economic growth, social development and good governance," he said. Although poverty in the region has been reduced from 34 percent in 1990 to 22 percent in 2002 there are still some 700 million people living on less than a dollar a day. "Basically the ADB has been successful in reducing poverty especially in China and India where the poverty ratio has declined substantially," Kuroda said. "On the whole our efforts to reduce poverty in the region has been successful. But income disparity in some places has created another level of poverty and that is a situation I think we all should be mindful of. On the question of regional economic integration, the former special advisor to Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, said: "It is something we (ADB) should foster and encourage. This will help reduce poverty, reduce income disparity and improve people's living standards." Another area needing attention, he said, is the time it takes to implement projects. "One of the criticisms leveled at the ADB is that it takes a long time before a loan is granted ... sometimes more than two years," Kuroda said. "That is too long. We need to streamline procedures and the time taken to implement programmes. This I think will be quite a challenge for the ADB. Streamlined procedures will reduce the bureaucracy of the institution." |
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