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About ADB Organization Board of Directors Board of Directors' Report
2000 Year in Review
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Policy Papers and Reports Discussed by the Board of Directors in 2000Policy, Financial, and Administrative Papers
Working Papers
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Four areas of operation will be given priority: governance in the public and private sectors because the business community needs stability and certainty in the legal and regulatory framework; financial intermediation because good access to finance is critical to private sector development; public-private partnerships because they help balance development goals with commercial interests; and regional and subregional cooperation because cooperation offers larger markets, economies of scale, and efficient division of labor.
The seventh ADF replenishment (ADF VIII)—so vital in the fight against poverty—was concluded in Okinawa, Japan in September following meetings in Australia, Italy, Thailand, and United Kingdom. For the four-year period commencing 1 January 2001, the planned ADF lending target is $5.65 billion, financed by new contributions ($2.91 billion) and additional commitments generated from existing and internal resources ($2.74 billion). Portugal, whose ADB membership is being processed, and Singapore became new donors.
During the replenishment negotiations, donors agreed on several priorities for ADF VIII. These included introducing systematic performance-based allocation for ADF loans; stronger support for good governance in the region; and increased focus on gender equality, environmental protection, and regional cooperation. They recommended abandoning loss provisioning for loans and denominating loans in special drawing rights. They requested a reexamination of the allocation basis of administrative expenses between ADF resources and ordinary capital resources (OCR); an assessment of encashment of contributions on a fixed schedule/pro rata basis among donors; and an examination of technical assistance financing in the midterm review of ADF VIII.
Institutional initiatives recommended by the donors included establishing a Development Effectiveness Committee to enhance the impacts of operations and measures to improve relationships with shareholders.
The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), a new financial resource, was established in 2000. The Government of Japan, recognizing the continuing aftershocks of the Asian financial crisis, provided 10 billion yen ($92.6 million) to support innovative poverty reduction and related social development projects on a grant basis, in line with ADB’s poverty reduction strategy. The JFPR is administered by ADB and is subject to all its procedures, including procurement, evaluation, and monitoring.
ADB’s vision is of a region free of poverty, and to this end, extensive work was undertaken in 2000 to develop a long-term strategic framework that will guide the work of ADB over the next 15 years. Wide-ranging discussions were held with member countries, development partners, civil society, and an expert panel, and drew on the skills of ADB staff.
The strategic focus will be on achieving sustainable economic growth, inclusive social development, and good governance. In particular, the framework embraces the philosophy and thrusts of the new private sector development strategy, and it recognizes the importance of regional development activities and ADB’s unique role as the region’s development bank. It also reaffirms commitment to the international development goals. Core medium-term poverty targets for 2005 are for each DMC to implement national sustainable development strategies and eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education. The fundamental long-term target is to halve the incidence of extreme poverty by 2015, compared with 1990.
ADB needs to be closer to its member countries. The Resident Mission Policy, approved in February, is a major step in this direction. The Policy provides for opening resident missions in every DMC, where feasible. To this end, resident missions were opened in the People’s Republic of China and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in 2000, and approval was given to open missions in Mongolia and Thailand. These new missions are a good complement to the 13 resident missions previously established.
In 2000, the Board of Directors met formally on 66 occasions, including executive sessions, and held 30 informal meetings, including briefings, discussion seminars, and presentations. The Board approved $5.85 billion for 90 loans in 74 projects. Of this, $4.26 billion was from OCR and $1.59 billion from ADF. Forty percent of project approvals, excluding private sector and technical assistance loans, had poverty reduction as the primary or secondary objective.1 The Board approved seven equity investments in the private sector, amounting to $78.15 million. It also approved directly, or through authority delegated to the President, technical assistance grants amounting to $171.99 million for 306 projects.
During the informal meetings, the Directors examined a broad range of issues, including the redesign of ADB’s operational business processes, and country assistance plans for 2000–2002 and 2001–2003.
Board of Directors (December 2000):
Seated, left to right: Vice-President John Lintjer, Secretary Bindu N. Lohani, President Tadao Chino, Vice-President Myoung-Ho Shin
First row, standing, left to right: Yasuro Narita, Cahit Akinci, Patrick Thomas, C. Ramachandran, N. Cinnamon Dornsife, Julian H. Payne, Uwe Henrich, Patricia Z. Riingen, Li Buqun, Chantale Yok-Min Wong, Ram Binod Bhattarai, Othman Jusoh
Second row, standing, left to right: Jose Miguel Cortes, Jeung-Hyun Yoon, John S. Lockhart, M. Faizur Razzaque, John Austin, Erik Johnsson, Naoyuki Shinohara, Zhao Xiaoyu, Barry Holloway, Kh. Zaheer Ahmed, Stephen Baker, Jusuf Anwar
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The 33rd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from 6 to 8 May 2000.
The Boards and Their FunctionsADB is governed by a Board of Governors, which, at the end of 2000, consisted of 59 members (43 regional and 16 nonregional). Under Article 28 of ADB’s Charter, the Board of Governors is vested with all the powers of ADB. In turn, the Governors delegate their authority to the Board of Directors, except for certain powers reserved to them under the Charter. The Board of Governors meets formally once a year for ADB’s Annual Meeting. The resolutions approved by the Board of Governors in 2000 and its membership are shown in Appendixes 1 and 2. Under Article 28, the Board of Governors elects a 12-member Board of Directors, eight elected by regional members and four by nonregional members (see Appendix 3). Each Director appoints an Alternate. The President of ADB is the Chairperson of the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors performs its duties on a full-time basis at ADB’s headquarters in Manila, Philippines, and meets in regular formal and executive sessions. The Directors exercise their authority and functions through their supervision of ADB’s financial statements, their approval of ADB’s administrative budget, and their review and approval of policy documents and all loan, equity, and technical assistance operations. |
Turkmenistan became ADB’s 59th member in 2000.
The Directors made three visits to DMCs in 2000: to India from 19 February to 4 March; the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and Papua New Guinea (PNG) from 19 August to 1 September; and the Philippines from 14 to 17 September. In India, the Directors had discussions with representatives of the Government of India including the Finance Minister, state chief ministers, and other officials. Talks were also held with stakeholders in ADB projects, NGOs, women’s groups, and business leaders. The Directors noted that ADB-funded projects and programs were generally on track. The Directors recommended closer monitoring by the India Resident Mission of project implementation and compliance with loan covenants at the state level. In the Lao PDR and PNG, the Directors visited several projects in each country and held extensive discussions with government officials, donors, and NGOs. The Directors noted that both governments need considerable assistance in building stronger institutions, and, particularly in the case of PNG, reducing the presence of poorly performing state-owned enterprises. The Directors also noted the need to resolve the graduation issue for PNG. The visit to northern Luzon, Philippines, provided the Directors with information about local level planning, stakeholder concerns, and the experiences of implementing agencies.
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