Masatsugu Asakawa to stand for re-election as ADB President

Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masatsugu Asakawa on Monday expressed his intention to stand for re-election as President for the five-year term after his current term ends on November 23.

ADB Presidents are nominated from ADB's regional members and elected by the Board of Governors.

"ADB has worked closely with our developing member countries (DMCs) throughout the global pandemic to design and implement effective solutions for Asia and the Pacific in a timely and tailored manner," said Asakawa.

"We have also continued efforts to address critical long-term development agendas such as gender, climate change and private sector development as directed by our Strategy 2030," he said.

"If re-elected, I commit to strengthening ADB's focus on supporting DMCs' recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, to deepening our partnerships with all ADB members and peer orgsations, and to ensuring staff well-being," said Asakawa.

ADB will make every effort to ensure our DMCs can sustain the impressive gains they have achieved and continue their progress toward a resilient, green and inclusive future, he added.

Asakawa was elected as President by the Board of Governors on November 30, 2019 and assumed office on January 17, 2020 to serve the remaining term of his predecessor Takehiko Nakao.

Under Asakawa's leadership, ADB announced a 20 billion dollar comprehensive response package, covering both sovereign and nonsovereign assistance, to help its DMCs mitigate the impacts of pandemic. ADB's total commitments in 2020 reached a record high of 31.6 billion dollars.

At the institutional level, Asakawa led ADB staff as they adapted to new work arrangements and continued implementation of the orgsation's digital transformation.

( With inputs from ANI )