Annual Meeting

Asian Development Bank, 36th Annual Meeeting

Ibrahim H. Çanakci, Chairman of the ADB Board Of Governors

Opening Address by the Chairman of the Board of Governors and Governor for Turkey

As Chairman of the Board of Governors, I am very pleased to welcome delegates to the 36th Annual Meeting. I would like to particularly acknowledge Timor-Leste, which recently became ADB’s 61st member.

I had of course been expecting to welcome you all to the 36th Annual Meeting in Istanbul, but events made that impractical. However, I am very happy that you will, in a short while, consider Turkey’s offer to host the annual meeting in 2005.

As Chairman of the Board of Governors, I express my deepest gratitude to the Government of the Philippines for wholeheartedly opening its arms to our meeting this year.

I am happy to report that, in spite of the extremely short time allowed by the change in venue, all preparatory steps for the 36th Annual Meeting have been efficiently accomplished, and the meeting format will satisfy all essential requirements.

Personally, I am excited by my first opportunity to visit the vibrant city of Manila, to walk through the corridors of ADB’s headquarters, and to meet many of the staff that make this organization the premier development agency that it is.

Relationship between Turkey and ADB

The relationship between ADB and Turkey is one of respect and friendship, and it grows stronger each year. Since it joined ADB in 1991, my country’s direct involvement in the provision of goods, civil works, and consulting services may have been modest. But that is no measure of how greatly we value our partnership with ADB and how we look forward to increasing our involvement in its work of poverty reduction in the region.

Annual Report

Allow me now to turn to the Annual Report of the Board of Directors for the year 2002. It provides a detailed review of ADB’s main achievements during what proved to be another eventful year. I would like to highlight a few of these achievements.

Within ADB, the year began with a major reorganization. It was achieved with minimal disruption to ADB operations and, as a result, ADB’s work now has greater country focus and fuller country ownership.

In the regional context, the year may best be remembered for ADB’s initiatives in postconflict assistance. In Afghanistan, for example, ADB played a key role in the systematic preparation of the country’s needs assessment, provided technical assistance, and actively supported difficult rehabilitation efforts. Following the generous contributions and support of member countries, ADB provided the first loan by an international financial institution to Afghanistan since 1979.

Two thousand and two was also a year of record lending to another strife-torn member, Sri Lanka. The President and staff of ADB have been active participants in the fostering of the peace process and rehabilitation of this beautiful but damaged country. Indeed just three weeks ago, ADB participated in the multipartite Tokyo conference on Sri Lanka reconstruction.

Efforts also continued in the rebuilding of another Asian country torn by civil strife, our newest member, Timor-Leste. In 2002, ADB established a special field office in the country.

Of course ADB’s proactive work went much beyond postconflict assistance. Its leading role in forging regional and subregional cooperation mechanisms continued, as did its sustained commitment to delivering country-specific assistance programs. ADB’s own cooperation with its global and regional development partners also intensified. In this context, ADB fully embraced the Millennium Development Goals as guiding targets for its operational strategies.

ADB’s Role in Development

Mention of the Millennium Development Goals brings me to the question: What is ADB’s role in development? It is a question we as Governors must continually ask ourselves. These are troubled times. Although Asia’s economies mostly fared better than expected in 2002, the global economy is moving forward only sluggishly, with some developed countries facing major macroeconomic challenges, including the problem of deflation. The global political situation is racked by uncertainties. Regime change has been brought about in Iraq, but tension remains in the Middle East and in some areas of East Asia. Terrorism continues to be a threat everywhere. And recently SARS has been a critical regional concern.

These challenges and struggles are reported every day in the news media, often in graphic detail. Less reported, but far more fundamental, are the dreadful problems of poverty and its bedfellows, deprivation and inequality.

Overcoming poverty is the uncompromisable goal of ADB, and with this goal in mind ADB must be ever resolute—resolute in championing sound macroeconomic policy, resolute in fostering enabling business environments, resolute in promoting the growth of the private sector, resolute in cooperating with members and other development agencies, resolute in treating nongovernment organizations as real partners, resolute in mainstreaming gender into both its operations and the development debate, resolute in fighting corruption, and resolute in offering its own procedures for public scrutiny.

In this final respect, I would like to congratulate the Board of Directors and staff for the diligent work that led to the adoption of the new ADB Accountability Mechanism following review of the Inspection Function. This new mechanism will strengthen ADB’s accountability and its operational effectiveness.

Ladies and gentlemen, the world community has reconfirmed its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals through a series of major conferences over the past year or so. The International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, and most recently the 3rd World Water Forum leave us with no doubt about what needs to be done. But setting goals is only the start; making good on them is the real accomplishment—and this means careful, focused application of effort every day and for many years to come.

An important way to provide focus and commitment is to agree with each developing member on what needs to be done to lift the poorest out of absolute poverty. I am pleased to note that in 2002, the number of poverty partnership agreements signed by ADB with Asian and Pacific developing member countries increased to a total of 17.

Conclusion

Ladies and gentlemen, we are the owners of this institution, and ownership brings responsibility—for ADB’s direction, its ethos, and its finances. Whatever the immediate circumstances of the day, such indeed as those that cause us to be here rather than in Istanbul, we must be always mindful of our long-term commitment to the mission of the Asian Development Bank. We must never forget that our task is to improve the lives of the poor of Asia and the Pacific.