Fiji participated at the 47th ADB Board of Governors Meeting held this week in Astana in Kazakhstan.
The Governors were updated by the ADB executive director and his team on the bank’s activities in 2013. The Governors noted that the Asian Development Bank’s lending increased in 2013 from both its funding windows i.e. Ordinary Capital Resources (OCR) and from the Asian Development Fund (ADF). OCR lending increased by 10% whilst ADF lending increased by 31%. One of the major concerns is the decline of 12% in disbursement which reflect delays in project implementation.
On the Mid Term Review undertaken in 2013, the need to further improve the relevance, responsiveness and effectiveness of development assistance from the Bank was emphasized.
One of the major priority areas for the Constituency Office in 2014 will be preparations for the Bank’s re-engagement with Fiji following elections.
The Governors were also briefed of the Bank’s intention to combine the two lending windows, ADF and OCR, which is underpinned by the need to meet the large unfunded infrastructure needs of the region, achieve its goal of expanding private sector operations from 17 per cent to 25 per cent of operations by 2020, cater for the borrowing needs of 12 countries that are projected to graduate from ADF borrowing to OCR over the next decade, and be able to respond with additional counter cyclical lending in the event of another serious regional or global financial downturn.
Concerns were raised that the merger must ensure that it does not disadvantage borrowing member countries. Therefore, further consultation is necessary to ensure a win-win situation to all borrowing member countries.
The Fijian delegation acknowledged the support of the Executive Director and staff of the Constituency Office in promoting the interest of Fiji within the Bank.
The Fijian Delegation also attended the Constituency Office Meeting at the margins of this Annual meeting. Other countries that participated at this meet include Armenia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga.
-ENDS-