The 42nd annual meeting of Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) opened in Bali, Indonesia, on May 4 with the participation of finance ministers and central bank governors from most of 67 its member countries.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated the meeting, stressing it as one of the most important event in the institution’s history taken place amid deepening global economic crisis.
“What must come out of this meeting is the clear resolve that the ADB is ready and capable to take on this serious challenge. We must demonstrate that the global financial crisis has made the ADB more, not less, relevant,” President Yudhoyono was quoted by China’s Xinhua news agency as saying.
According to the ADB's estimate, Asia-Pacific growth will be 3.4 percent in 2009 and 6 percent in 2010, making it still the world' s fastest-growing region.
The 42nd annual meeting came a day after Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ASEAN+3) reached the agreement on all main components of a 120-billion-USD regional reserve pool, known as Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation.
The ADB, established in 1966 and based in Manila, has 67 member-economies./.