We Rise in the New Asian Dawn

Transcript

We stir to life in the promise of new Asian dawn.

Temple bells toll.

Diyas flicker.

Engines roar awake.

From the swim of everyday life in Tashkent, to lush Pacific atolls, Asia has been at the heart of the fightback against an invisible enemy.

COVID-19 has radically altered our outlook on life.

It has left us weakened, yet resilient, isolated, yet together.

From the outset of the pandemic, ADB has played a key role across borders.

Responding to this unprecedented moment in time with agility and partnership.

Today, our $9 billion vaccine initiative is saving lives and getting people back to work, helping economies build their capacity to recover.

From north to south and east to west, we might all be on the same hopeful path to a brighter future, but the reality is we don’t exist under the same sky.

Over 1.2 billion working Asians still struggle on less than $3 a day, and it is the poor who will continue  to be the most impacted by the virus.

This is why our mission is clearer than ever.

To remain focused on the needs of women, low-wage workers, and small and medium enterprises, whilst finding enduring solutions at the heart of the climate crisis.

There is no denying our futures might have felt beyond our control, but this has also been a time for the best of us.

Educators,  healthcare front-liners,  delivery drivers, and ordinary citizens, each demonstrating selfless service and leadership in response to extraordinary challenge.

The truth is, hope can be found each day in the world around us.

Abundance is golden bread rising in an oven.

Freedom is laughter on the journey to school, or the joy of dancing with friends.

Fulfilment is companionship in our old age  as we contemplate the past and the present.

So, let us emerge from this traumatic chapter in human history as better governments, better organizations, and better people.

Each sharing a value system that bonds generations together like never before.

After all, we are resilience, we are enterprise, we are part of the human engine of growth.

Driving a continent forward as we rise to the promise of each new day.

We are ADB.