Dominguez urges ADB to ‘future-proof’ members

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) was urged to help its member-countries against the sweeping impact of disruptive change brought about by rapid digital technology advances as the Manila-based lender vowed to achieve a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable region.

At the opening session of the 51st Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Governors yesterday, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the multilateral institution should help “future-proof ” the region against disruptive change owning to digital technologies.

Dominguez said that ADB must aid its member-countries in harnessing the rapid advances in digital technologies to improve productivity and strengthen economies.

Being Asia’s “main concourse of development ideas,” the ADB needs to develop the means to prevent its members “from falling into the wrong side of the digital divide,” said Dominguez, who is this year’s chairman of this bank’s Board of Governors.

“Rapid, and especially disruptive, technological progress carries both risks and rewards. The ADB is a vital institution for the region in ensuring the risks are mitigated and the rewards evenly distributed,” Dominguez said.

‘Strategy 2030’

ADB President Takehiko Nakao announced in his opening address at the governors meeting that “Strategy 2030,” the new long-term strategy of the bank will be released later this year.

The renewed plan, Nakao said aims to eradicate extreme poverty in Asia and the Pacific as well as expand the bank’s vision to achieve a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable region.

Nakao said Strategy 2030 will address existing and emerging challenges, citing the “persistent poverty” in the region.

“We must address rising inequality, growing environmental pressures, and rapid urbanization. Aging in some countries and an increasing youth population in others present opportunities as well as challenges,” Nakao said.

Strategy 2030 will be aligned with the international agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

10 priorities

Strategy 2030 will have 10 priorities. Among these are to tackle the remaining poverty and increasing inequalities in Asia and the Pacific; the accelerating progress in gender equality; scaling up of support to combat climate change, build climate and disaster resilience, and enhance environmental sustainability.

Also included are the building of livable cities that are competitive, green, resilient, and inclusive; promotion of rural development and food security; strengthening of governance; and fostering regional cooperation and integration.

Lastly, the 12-year strategy covers the mobilization of private sector resources to meet the region’s huge development financing needs; further strengthen ADB’s role as a provider and facilitator of knowledge; and to pursue of a stronger, better, and faster multilateral bank.

“We will continue to use our financial resources efficiently and creatively,” Nakao said.

“We will invest in our workforce, promote diversity including gender balance, and ensure a respectful workplace. We will expand our presence on the ground. We will dramatically modernize business processes to speed up our services to clients,” he added.

“A One ADB approach will break down silos and bring together expertise across ADB,” Nakao said.

ADB lauded

Dominguez, meanwhile, said that ADB’s Strategy 2030 is a “good beginning” in meeting the region’s challenges as it provides the institution with a roadmap that will not only let member-countries adjust to the new balance of power in the global economy.

“We commend ADB President Takehiko Nakao for the great work he has put in leading this institution through a dramatically changing world,” Dominguez said.

“He is committed to the bank’s longterm vision and remains open to reinvention of the institution’s programs as we move into a more technologically driven age,” the finance chief added.

Dominguez said living in today’s world means coping with rapid advances in digital technologies, which have both its “upsides and downsides” as these could, for instance, dramatically improve productivity but could also eradicate jobs and introduce greater inequalities.

Rapid, disruptive change can likewise greatly enhance access to financial systems but also open doors to digital monies like virtual currencies that no government is prepared to regulate, demand skills that schools are not prepared to provide, and produce virtual constituencies our political orders are not conceived to include, Dominguez said.