Building a Prosperous, Inclusive, Resilient, and Sustainable Asia and the Pacific

Transcript

Asia and the Pacific is the fastest growing region in the world.

Yet, every third person lives on about $3 per day.

And there’s a vast infrastructure gap, of at least $1.7 trillion per year.

Bringing a better life to those people by helping to build Asia and the Pacific has been at the core of ADB’s work for more than 50 years.

But we must embrace change to continue promoting growth and resilience as the region matures.

Rapid urbanization…

Climate change…

Technology changing the nature of work…

And young populations in some countries and others swiftly aging.

While working to bridge that huge infrastructure gap will remain our priority, investments in health, education and social protection will all increase.

In the coming decade our operational priority areas will be:

Reducing poverty and inequality…

Tackling climate change…

Promoting gender equality…

Boosting rural development…

Making cities more livable…

Strengthening governance…

and fostering regional cooperation and integration

Promoting these in Asia and the Pacific will not be just about financing.

A growing part of our work will be sharing our practical knowledge, research and policy advice with our developing members

Because our resources are limited, helping meet the region’s needs will mean forging innovative ways of financing.

We will explore new commercial and concessional funding sources, and nurture more public-private partnerships.

Working smarter means acknowledging our region’s diversity.

Small island states, as well as those impacted by conflict, have unique needs.

Upper middle-income countries have their own specific development priorities, we must respond to these too.

Persistent inequality within states means our focus will be on areas that lag behind wealthier places.

Contributing in all these areas is hugely challenging. But we’ve set ourselves some targets to measure success.

At least 75% of our operations will promote gender equity by 2030.

Not less than 75% of operations will support climate change mitigation and adaption by 2030…

and the private sector will make up a third of our operations by 2024.

We are forging even stronger links with our members, donors and development partners.

So let us work together to build a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific.