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Opening Media Briefing

Statement by
Haruhiko Kuroda
President
Asian Development Bank

3 May 2006
Hyderabad, India

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Good morning. I would like to welcome all of you to this Annual Meeting. The last time we were in India was in 1990 in New Delhi. It is incredible to see the tremendous progress this country has made since then. I think you will agree that Hyderabad is a vibrant example of this.

As you know, this is my second Annual Meeting and I am looking forward to discussing a number of issues on our development agenda in the coming days.

Over the past 12 months, I have had a chance to travel to various parts of the region. I have seen how economies are growing; opportunities are expanding. Many Asians are benefiting from the region’s dynamic growth. The number of people in absolute poverty – living on less than $1 a day is rapidly declining. But I have also seen how many others still live in the shadow of persistent poverty. This is a major challenge – to bridge the widening gap between rich and poor; to ensure the poor are included in, and benefit from, economic growth.

This will not be easy to achieve. There are a number of challenges.

First, broad based growth can only be achieved if people have access to basic services such as clean water and sanitation, and if the poor are provided with education and the training needed to get jobs.

Second, we must ensure that growth does not come at the expense of the environment.

Third, the greatest threat to private investment and growth in many countries is the high level of risk arising from regulatory weaknesses, policy uncertainty and market distortions. We must improve governance and maintain our vigilance against corruption.

This is a critical moment for Asia. How we respond to these challenges will shape the region’s future. ADB’s role in the region’s response will feature prominently among the issues we will be discussing over the next few days.

We expect to finalize a new medium-term (2006-2008) strategy for ADB soon after this Annual Meeting. I expect the strategy will confirm ADB's fundamental goal of poverty alleviation and intensify our focus on a few key areas, such as the ones I just outlined, as well as regional cooperation and integration. Wise action in these areas will help Asia secure a peaceful and prosperous future.

We have a busy, wide ranging agenda ahead of us and I am sure we will have lively debate and discussion on these and many other critical development issues.

Thank you, and now I will be happy to take any questions.