37th Annual Meeting

At the 37th annual meeting on Jeju Island, Republic of Korea from 15 to 17 May 2004, ADB’s Board of Governors welcomed the establishment of a results-based management unit, stressed the need to focus on implementing the action plan for managing for development results, and requested that resultsbased country strategies be aligned with national poverty reduction strategies. In addition the Governors did the following:

• pointed to the region’s extensive physical and social infrastructure needs for sustainable economic growth and encouraged ADB to work closely with governments and the private sector to meet these needs;
• stressed that ADB’s private sector operations need to be closely aligned with country strategies and programs and requested ADB to support small and medium-sized enterprises and address critical financial issues such as money laundering and remittances;
• requested ADB to provide continued support for regional cooperation in trade and investment and for improving financial intermediation while appreciating ADB's current efforts to issue local currency bonds and its use of partial credit guarantees;
• emphasized the key role of education in mobilizing the productive potential of the poor, noted the importance of narrowing the digital divide to reduce income inequality, and requested more support to develop the knowledge-based economy;
• welcomed ADB’s initiatives to improve its development effectiveness;
• expressed satisfaction with the ADF IX replenishment and requested ADB to pursue efficient and effective use of these resources as well as other prudent efforts to mobilize internal resources into the ADF.

The annual meeting was attended by around 2,500 participants, including representatives from multilateral and bilateral institutions, members of the global financial community, and civil society. The 38th annual meeting will be held in Istanbul, Turkey.