ADB governors call for concrete measures to reduce poverty

Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday called for concrete measures to reduce poverty to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) as scheduled.

At the 39th Annual Meeting of the Governors of ADB, governors and representatives from the financial institution's members focused their views on poverty reduction, the core mission of ADB as it stated.

While most of the governors hold the view that regional cooperation is an important way in overall development in the region, some showed particular concern on the poverty reduction roadmap, calling for ADB's stronger role in the process.

Governor Karin Kortmann from Germany said more targeted measures are needed with a clear poverty focus. ADB should regard itself as an advocate and catalyst of pro-poor growth and social inclusion, especially in middle-income countries, he said.

Adrian Schlaepfer from Switzerland said ADB must ensure that all its operations are directly or indirectly aimed at reducing poverty.

"ADB should in its medium-term strategy (MTS) elaborate in more detail how ADB intends to assist governments of the region to make economic growth more beneficial to the poor and how income disparities can be reduced," he said.

In order to help developing countries in the region fulfill the MDGs as scheduled, ADB should work more closely with the rest of the international community and other development organizations, and mobilize considerable funds for development, said Jin Renqing from China.

Batir Mirbabayev from Uzbekistan said infrastructure development,in particularly transport, agriculture and water resources, should remain the highest priorities of ADB's operations.

"This is the foundation of the sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction in developing member counties."

ADB should promote social development, establishing modern education and health care systems that will be the most effective and promising long-term investments for future prosperity, he said.

Addressing the opening of the meeting Friday, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said that the Asia and Pacific region has gained remarkable progress in economic development and poverty reduction in the past years.

"Hundreds of millions of people enjoy a better quality of life, the middle class are growing and Asia's pace of growth has soared, " he said.

Based on recent growth rate, he noted the number of people living on less than a dollar a day could fall to about 100 million by 2015 if the benefits of growth are equitably shared. But if growth slows and inequality increases, the number of desperately poor will still be nearly 350 million.

Source: Xinhua