ADB President to Attend Ha Noi Forum on Social Impacts of Economic Crisis
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda will visit Viet Nam on Monday to attend a major international conference on the social impacts of the global economic crisis.
ADB is organizing the event, "The Impact of the Global Economic Slowdown on Poverty and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific," in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat, the Government of Viet Nam, and the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It is the first major conference dedicated to the social impacts of the crisis in the Asia and Pacific region.
ADB estimates that had Asia's high growth not stalled over the past year, there would be 60 million fewer people living below the US$1.25 a day poverty line, and 100 million fewer "near-poor" (those vulnerable to poverty) living below the $2 a day line. The Ha Noi conference will focus on how policy makers can use the crisis as an opportunity to reform labor and social market systems to ensure inclusive and sustainable growth in the region.
Some 300 representatives of countries, civil society, academia and multilateral and bilateral development agencies are expected at the conference.
Leading speakers will include ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda; Viet Nam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung; Viet Nam's Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao Duc Phat; Director, Leading Group of Poverty, Government of PRC, Wenkai Zhang; and Deputy Secretary General, ASEAN Secretariat, Misran Bin Karmain.
The conference is supported by ten partner organizations: the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI); the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the UK Department for International Development (DFID); German development cooperation agencies – the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and KfW Bankengruppe; the International Labor Organization (ILO); the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC); the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO).
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