Ashok Lavasa

VP Ashok Lavasa on 21 November 2022 called for greater collaboration between ADB and its private sector clients to ensure Asia and the Pacific reaches its climate finance goals by 2030. More than 30 representatives from private sector companies in the Philippines joined the first client reception hosted by Private Sector Operations Department Director General Suzanne Gaboury in Manila. They learned how ADB and the country's private sector can work together in delivering private sector-led development solutions. Attendees included Aboitiz Group, AC Energy, ACEN Renewables, Alternergy, BDO, BPI, Buskowitz Energy, Cantilan Bank, CARD, Energy Development Corporation, Fruitas, Grow Capital Partners, Ignis Energia, Investment & Capital Corporation of the Philippines, MetPower Venture Capital Partners, SCB Philippines, and Vena Energy.

At the 2nd ASEAN Global Dialogue in Phnom Penh, VP Ashok Lavasa on 13 November 2022 underscored that while the ASEAN region is recovering well from the pandemic and other geopolitical shocks, it is facing many difficulties including health threats, the destruction of human capital as well as an increase in carbon emissions and a drop in biodiversity. He touched on ADB initiatives in the ASEAN region to build strong health systems, invest in human capital development and education, and help in climate change mitigation and adaptation. The dialogue was chaired by Cambodian Prime Minister Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen and attended by ASEAN leaders, leaders from ASEAN partner countries, and representatives of international organizations.

ADB and Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank on 11 November 2022 signed a $500 million loan package to expand access to finance for women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises and social loan projects in Viet Nam. The financing comprises a $100 million loan from ADB’s ordinary capital resources OCR, and $100 million each from the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Maybank Securities, and JICA (cofinanced with SMBC). VP Ashok Lavasa spoke at the event, with Viet Nam Resident Mission Country Director Andrew Jeffries, Private Sector Financial Institutions Division Director Christine Engstrom, and Private Sector Operations Department Advisor and Guarantees and Syndication Unit Head Bart Raemaekers in attendance. Read the news release. 

The Bank of Huzhou and ADB on 4 November 2022 signed a $50 million private sector loan to support green financing for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the People's Republic of China (PRC). In his opening remarks, VP Ashok Lavasa emphasized the importance of mobilizing private capital to help MSMEs to reduce their carbon footprint, and ADB East Asia Department Director General Teresa Kho highlighted the key role the PRC plays in contributing to carbon neutrality and addressing the challenges of climate change. From ADB, Private Sector Operations Department Deputy Director General Christopher Thieme, Private Sector Financial Institutions Director Christine Engstrom, Public Management, Financial Sector, and Regional Cooperation Division Director Emma Fan, and PRC Resident Mission Deputy Country Director Hao Zhang attended the signing ceremony. Read the news release.

VP Ashok Lavasa joined the plenary session on Innovating Financing Models to Realize Net-Zero Portfolios as part of the 2022 Global Infrastructure Initiative Summit organized by McKinsey & Company on 20 October 2022 in Tokyo. He discussed the use of innovative financing instruments such as blended finance to deliver ADB’s Energy Transition Mechanism initiative and the role of financial institutions in energy transition and scaling up clean energy investments. VP Lavasa participated in a site visit to the Advanced Hydrogen Energy Chain Association for Technology Development hydrogen project in Tokyo.