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Meeting with NGOs & Civil Society

Opening Remarks by
Haruhiko Kuroda
President
Asian Development Bank

At the 39th Annual Meeting, Hyderabad, India

3 May 2006
HICC, Hyderabad

I am pleased to have this opportunity to meet with you this morning, and am impressed by the very large turn-out of NGOs and other civil society groups at this Annual Meeting. ADB remains committed to working with our civil society partners to promote economic growth that is pro-poor, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable. This is reflected in the record percentage of approved loans that involved cooperation with civil society organizations last year – 74%.

Here in India, dozens of civil society organizations are participating in ADB-financed projects to restore livelihoods in disaster-prone regions, increase community involvement in infrastructure development, clean up polluted sites, and provide education, health services and microfinance. We are seeing great results from such partnerships.

Similar collaboration is necessary at all levels to give the Asia and Pacific region the best possible chance of attaining the Millennium Development Goals. We will soon make more funds available for NGO-led initiatives against HIV/AIDS to complement our ongoing work in the health sector. In addition, we are working with the Partnership for Transparency Fund to provide grants to NGOs undertaking anticorruption activities.

In response to the demands of our member countries, ADB plans to expand investments in areas like energy efficiency, safe water supply and sanitation. For example, I have constituted a task force in ADB to explore how we could increase our program on clean energy to $1 billion a year by 2008.

Investments in these areas are often complicated by a wide range of governance, institutional, social, environmental and political issues that make partnership approaches an imperative for success. In the case of water, we greatly appreciated the extensive civil society inputs into the review of the implementation of our Water Policy last year. Tomorrow, the independent panel that oversaw the implementation review will deliver its recommendations here at the Annual Meeting.

We are also committed to building on our cooperation with you to ensure that women and disadvantaged groups are uplifted by the region’s economic growth, and that ADB-supported projects do not adversely affect the natural environment. In the months ahead, we will solicit your views on our Environment Policy and ADB’s other safeguard policies as we update them. We will also consult with civil society on a review of our Energy Policy. For example, we have already entered into a substantive dialogue on the policy with Greenpeace, which has one of the largest delegations at this meeting.

I am pleased to report that our new Public Communication Policy, which was developed through extensive consultations, is now in effect. In addition, we have just published a Guide to Consultation and Participation to assist ADB staff in using participatory methods in our operations. These and other recent steps are designed to improve engagement of stakeholders and development effectiveness.

Thank you for taking the time to join this meeting today, and for your dedication to inclusive, sustainable development in the Asia and Pacific region. I would now be happy to take your questions.