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The Interview
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Yoshihiro Iwasaki, Director, Programs Department (West), explains how ADB will help
Afghanistan was a founding member of ADB in 1966. ADB operations began in 1969, and our first loan for Afghanistan was approved in 1970. By 1979, when ADB support was suspended, Afghanistan had received eight loans totaling $75 million, and technical assistance totaling $2.5 million. The major emphasis of the Bank’s operations in Afghanistan was on small- and medium-sized agriculture and irrigation projects. Other areas of emphasis were transportation development, hydropower development, and vocational education.
Now that the United Nations has endorsed the “Agreement on Provisional Arrangements in Afghanistan Pending the Reestablishment of Permanent Government Institutions,” or power-sharing agreement, signed by major Afghan factions in Berlin on 5 December, the only remaining issue that needs to be addressed for a resumption in ADB assistance to Afghanistan is the issue of arrears to international financial institutions (IFIs). As of October 2001, the principal outstanding on ADB loans to Afghanistan was $29.1 million and total arrears were $16.0 million. Similarly, Afghanistan’s arrears to the World Bank/International Development Association and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were reported at $23.6 million and $9.6 million, respectively, in October 2001. These arrears totaling $49.2 million as well as those owed to ADB must be cleared before Afghanistan’s relations with the IFIs might be normalized.
The ADB, World Bank, and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) co-hosted a conference on “Preparing for Afghanistan’s Reconstruction” in Islamabad on November 2001. The conference was attended by many Afghans from nongovernment organizations (NGOs), the assistance community, and civil society. On 5–6 December, ADB staff participated in the annual conference of the Afghanistan Support Group in Berlin, comprised of principal donor countries, international organizations, NGOs, and the countries bordering Afghanistan. In addition, ADB, UNDP, and World Bank are coordinating on the preparation of a preliminary needs assessment for Afghanistan, to assess its prospects for short- and medium-term economic and social recovery, which lays the basis for longer-term reconstruction and development.
The assessment, to be completed in mid-January 2002 and presented to a ministerial-level meeting hosted by the governments of Japan, Saudi Arabia, United States, and European Union in Tokyo in late-January, will identify the program of activities for meeting the recovery and reconstruction needs during the next three to five years, and will recommend a work plan for broader needs assessment, as well as procedures for a sustained and effective consultation with Afghans.
It is difficult to estimate lending volume to Afghanistan at this stage. This will depend on the results of the needs assessment underway, priorities of the new Government, and absorptive capacity of the country. We should be able to take a view on this by end-January 2002.
The sectors we might support are very much a function of the needs of the interim administration and any division of labor that might be created with other development partners. ADB has indicated that it is prepared to provide support for the agriculture, education, health, transport, and energy sectors, as well as environmental and natural resource management, governance and public sector management, gender, and community development.
Afghanistan would be eligible for ADB resources as a Group A country. However, ADB will need to consult with its Asian Development Fund—ADF—donors before committing its concessional resources to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan was not operationally active when ADF VIII was negotiated in 1999–2000. Committing ADB resources to another country not included in the original set of eligible developing member countries will obviously stretch the total availability.
________________________________Review the Preliminary Needs Assessment Report
Read President Chino's speech at the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan's Reconstruction, 21 January 2002
Listen to the 4-minute NPR radio report on the Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo, 20-21 January 2002
Co-chairs' summary of conclusions: The International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan
More on Afghanistan in ADB Review
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