Asia-Pacific region faces immense task fighting poverty: ADB president

The task before Asia-Pacific countries in the fight against poverty remains both urgent and immense, said Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Tadao Chino Wednesday.

Asia and the Pacific have seen strong economic growth and a dramatic reduction to poverty in the region in recent decades. Thenumber of people living on less than one dollar a day fell from 32percent in 1990 to 22 percent in 2000, which translates into a reduction from 900 million poor in the region to 720 million, saidthe ADB president at the Global Conference on Scaling Up Poverty Reduction.

Sponsored by the World Bank and the Chinese government, the conference is aimed to accelerate efforts in reducing poverty through assessing best practices and sharing valuable knowledge among developing countries.

Despite these successes, there is a sobering array of challenges: people living in poverty in Asia and the Pacific stillrepresent nearly two-thirds of the world's poor, he said. Progressin economic growth and poverty reduction has also been uneven, andmany countries in the region remain among the least developed in the world.

Calling on the international community to supplement the efforts of the developing countries to reduce poverty by increasedfinancial support, he said a portion of ADB's Asian Development Fund, which shareholders recently pledged to replenish by 7 billion US dollars, would be allocated for grants to support poverty reduction programs in the poorest developing countries.

He thanked Chino for its valuable contribution to the Asian Development Fund, which demonstrated China's commitment to reduce poverty in the region.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced at the opening of the conference that China decided to pledge the "Asian Development Found" and to contribute 20 million US dollars to ADB to establishthe China Special Fund for Poverty Reduction and Regional Cooperation in support of relevant endeavors in the Asia-Pacific region.

ADB has adopted poverty reduction as its overarching goal, and ADB's Poverty Reduction Strategy aims to fight poverty in all its dimensions, and is built on three pillars: promoting pro-poor sustainable economic growth; social development; and good governance.

A recent review of ADB's Poverty Reduction Strategy confirms that for poverty reduction efforts to be meaningful, economic growth should be supported by inclusive development, which requires institutional reforms, better governance, responsive bureaucracies, and improved capacities, said the ADB president.

He warned that the lack of adequate physical infrastructure in the region also poses a major impediment to economic growth. Recent estimates suggest that the infrastructure investment requirements in Asia and Pacific exceed 250 billion US dollars peryear.

Dynamic private sector is crucial for sustainable economic growth, a necessary condition for poverty reduction, he said, adding that creating an enabling environment for private sector development is, therefore, a priority for ADB.

Established in 1966, the Asian Development Bank is owned by 63 members, including 45 from the region. In 2003, ADB approved loansand technical assistance amounting to 6.1 billion US dollars and 177 million US dollars, respectively.