 |
| ADB Headquarters in Manila [PHOTO: ©Eugene Alvin Villar, 2007] |
Manila: The Asian Development Bank (ADB)
approved $21.57 billion in financing operations including cofinancing last
year, according to ADB’s 2012 Annual Report, released ahead of its 46th Annual
Meeting of the Board of Governors to be held 2–5 May in Delhi, India.
Poverty reduction in Asia remains “an unfinished agenda”
despite the region’s strong record of economic growth, the report notes.
In 2012, operations were concentrated in five core areas:
infrastructure, environment, regional cooperation and integration, finance
sector development, and education. ADB continued to focus on its three key
development agendas of inclusive growth, environmentally sustainable growth,
and regional integration.
A special focus on regional integration highlights ADB’s
work to forge closer links between countries across the region, including the
ASEAN Infrastructure Fund; a new five-year strategy for the Central Asia
Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program; cross-border partnerships
between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Mongolia and PRC and Viet Nam;
accelerated cooperation in South Asia; and a new generation of planned projects
for the second decade of cooperation in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
Other notable achievements in 2012 include: $825 million in
funding for India’s power transmission systems; record replenishment of Asian
Development Fund of $12.4 billion to help Asia’s poorest; the first-ever loans
for road network upgrades in Timor-Leste; a $625 million equity investment in
the innovative Philippines Infrastructure Fund; a new public-private
partnership plan; a new Interim Country Partnership Strategy for Myanmar; and
ADB’s first Supply Chain Finance Program to help the region’s small businesses
access capital to help them grow.
ADB also continued to improve operational efficiency and
development effectiveness in 2012.