PHOTO CREDIT TK
ADB: Online
And Under
Lockdown
As the Asian Development Bank
shifts its 2020 Annual General
Meeting to virtual, Covid-19 policy
measures take center stage.T
he second stage of the 53rd Annual General Meeting
[AGM] of the Asian Development Bank (ADB),
which had been scheduled to take place in Incheon,
South Korea, on September 17-18, will now be vir-
tual. Originally set for May 2-5, the annual meeting
had instead been rescheduled and split into two parts, with the first
stage a reduced-scale meeting held on May 22
in Manila. Due to quarantine rules implemented
by the government of the Philippines, that
meeting was conducted virtually, facilitated and
coordinated from Manila. For September, citing
the resurgence of Covid-19 in South Korea—
which has seen more than 14,000 infections so
far—problems caused by travel restrictions, and
the health danger to delegates, ADB Secretary
Eugenue Zhukov confirmed in a July 13 news
release that the “ADB and the government of the
Republic of Korea have agreed not to proceed
with a physical meeting.” The September meet-
ing will also be coordinated from Manila.
That’s no small matter for the banks, govern-
ments and related institutions for which the
AGM has become a key point of contact, including the mul-
titude of banks that typically attend to network on the fringe.
From 31 members at its establishment, the ADB has grown to
encompass 68, of which 49 are based in the Asia-Pacific region.
AGM attendance has steadily grown; the May 2019 event, held
in Fiji, attracted more than 3,500 attendees, including banks and
other institutions from 76 countries.
“The ADB AGM and the networking opportunities it affords
has become a staple of the banking calendar,” one banking
insider comments, “so the cancellation of the physical event is
going to disappoint many.”In another respect, however, the decision simply under-
scores the ADB’s changing priorities, which are now trained
on Covid response. With worrying resurgences now looming
across the region—including Australia and Japan as well as South
Korea—many earlier base assumptions about the course of the
pandemic now look wildly optimistic. The ADB, like many
regional governments, is busy reexamining economic impacts
and recalibrating related support packages unver the assumption
that the damage will stretch well into 2021.
In 2019, environmental degradation and debt sustainability
moved to center stage as key focal areas of ADB policy. That,
too, has changed.
“We are all in the same boat now, and accept that the ADB’s
necessary focus on mitigating the economic damage of Covid
means that environment and debt will necessarily be pushed
down the agenda,” says the insider.ADDRESSING THE PANDEMIC
Addressing the economic impact of the pandemic also includes
mitigating the damage it does to the poor and vulnerable.
“The $20 billion package will empower governments and
businesses in Asia and the Pacific to tackle the severe macroeco-
nomic fallout, address the urgent needs of the poor, the sick, and
the vulnerable, and blaze a path to strong recovery.” Masatsugu
Asakawa, who became president of the ADB
in January, announced in April. Asakawa had
formerly been special advisor to Japan’s prime
minister and to the minister of finance. As part
of this $20 billion package, ADB had com-
mitted $9.3 billion by the end of July, having
started in early February, and development
partners added $4.6 billion in co-financing.
The ADB is also generating economic
analysis to enable policymakers to better plan
for recovery, trade and supply-chain finance
to support commercial activity, and wage sup-
port schemes for low-wage workers, aimed
at helping smaller firms stay in business and
prevent job losses.
Enhanced coordination with other interna-
tional financial institutions, the World Health Organization and
other UN agencies, and development organizations has helped
the ADB expand its access to funds and broaden its reach. In
a possible sign of changes to come, the ADB is building on
a 2016 memorandum of understanding with the Chinese-led
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to collaborate on a wide
range of “Covid-19 active response and expenditure support
programs” in Central, South and Southeast Asia.
“We are on the side of our developing members in their
moment of need, to help them pave the way for a better,
brighter future,” Asakawa says. ■Asakawa, ADB: We are on the
side of our developing mem-
bers in their moment of need.September 2020 | Global Finance | 61ASIA REGIONAL REPORT
ADB | By Simon Littlewood