MANILA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez on Tuesday underscored the need for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to "reinvent" itself by pursuing new development programs to spell wider economic inclusion across the Asia-Pacific region.
Dominguez, who chairs the ADB Board of Governors this year, said that between now and its 51st annual meeting in May, the ADB will be holding a series of forums and conferences meant to examine the changing global and regional realities and challenges.
The meetings, more importantly, will determine how the bank can play an "even more effective role" in helping attain inclusive growth for the poorest communities in its member-economies, as the Asia-Pacific evolves into the "center of gravity" of the global economy.
He said these upcoming discussions on inclusive growth are in sync with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte administration's strategy on how to hurdle this kind of challenge.
President Duterte has announced massive investments in infrastructure projects that will link communities to the mainstream of wealth creation, and higher spending on social services such as healthcare and education to liberate millions from poverty at the soonest possible time.
"Over the past five decades, the ADB poured over 250 billion U.S. dollars into the Asia-Pacific region. The programs of the bank no doubt helped transform this region into one of the most progressive and dynamic regions of the world. Notwithstanding, the Asia-Pacific continues to be home to some of the poorest communities. There is a challenge for inclusiveness here," Dominguez said in launching of the
He said the Philippines itself has benefited immensely from its strong partnership with ADB, which has been one of the country's biggest sources of official development assistance (ODA) over the past five decades. "The regional bank has financed some of our most important infrastructure projects and given us grants to study many facets of our development," Dominguez said. As this year's host, the Philippines will lead the discussions around the 2018 theme "Linking People and Economies for Inclusive Development," and will invite "some of the world's best and most influential minds to enrich our deliberations." Dominguez expressed confidence that these preliminary discussions to be held before the annual meeting of the ADB Board of Governors on May 3-6 will help enlighten the agenda of this year. He also said the Board is intent on crafting more inclusive modes of development in the course of its deliberations in response to several global trends, among them the Asia-Pacific's rise as the "center of gravity of the global economy and its most important growth driver," the increasing hostility to free trade in some of the countries in the West, and the emergence of new multilateral institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The event will be attended by the finance and development ministers and central bank governors of the Bank's 67 members, of which 48 are from the Asia-Pacific region. Several host-country events have also been organized to discuss the Philippines' economic directions and promote its business, trade and investment prospects.