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ADB approves historic networking agreement with AIT

12 Jul 2002
AIT

Mr. Tadao Chino, right, talking with ADB-sponsored students at AIT.

ADB approves historic networking agreement with AIT

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved technical assistance in the form of a networking arrangement to promote the exchange of knowledge, expertise and experience with AIT – the first such agreement ever entered into by ADB.

Mr. Tadao Chino, the ADB President, announced during his visit to AIT on June 27 that the initiative aimed to improve knowledge management in ADB by accessing and utilizing knowledge, expertise and experience of AIT. This would help ADB and AIT strengthen their collaboration in research, knowledge management and training for officials in ADB’s developing member countries (DMCs). ADB and AIT personnel are also expected to benefit.

Implementation will involve establishing ‘cells’ in both ADB and AIT. The cells will be focal points for exchange of information, and will impart to people in both organizations information on the potential demand for and the supply of required skills and expertise.

‘Such cooperation will help us to more efficiently meet our primary goal, which I know we share with AIT, of reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific,’ Mr Chino said during his speech at the dinner hosted by AIT president.

The ADB president noted that two-thirds of the world’s poor live in the developing countries of the Asia-Pacific region. To make a substantial impact on poverty, all its dimensions need to be combated. ADB’s poverty reduction strategy focuses on the critical elements of pro-poor, sustainable economic growth, social development (including access to education and health), and good governance. AIT shares the Bank’s mission of reducing poverty, which is now ADB’s overarching goal.

In August 2000, Mr. Chino – who played an instrumental role in the ADB’s establishment in 1966 while working for the then Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) – received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Technology from the Asian Institute of Technology in recognition of his role in the economic and social development of the Asia and Pacific region and his strategic vision in leading the ADB in the fight against poverty.

Mr. Tadao was accompanied by Mr. Yasushi Kanzaki, Chief Advisor to the President; Mr. Rajat M. Nag, Director General, Mekong Department; Dr. Brahm Prakash, Director, Poverty Reduction and Social Development, Regional and Sustainable Development Department; Mr. Graham Jackson, Senior Project Engineer, Special Projects Administration Mission, Thailand; Mr. Yushu Feng, Economist, Mekong Department, Operations Coordination Division; and the delegates from the Fiscal Policy Office, Thai Ministry of Finance,
Mr. Peremes Vudthitornetiraks, Senior Economist and Ms. Sakun Lambasara, Economist.

The end of the day was capped by the ADB delegation meeting the ADB Scholars at AIT.

Related links:

ADB homepage: http://www.adb.org/
Mr Chino’s Graduation Address:

http://www.adb.org/Documents/ Speeches/2000/ms2000041.asp

AIT Reform Program VII:
http://intraweb.ait.ac.th/AIT/strategy/program/p7.html

Mr. Tadao Chino, left, ADB President, being welcomed by AIT administration, from left: AIT President, Prof. Jean-Louis Armand; Prof. Mario T. Tabucanon, Provost; and Prof. Gajendra Singh, Dean of AIT Extension.

Mr. Tadao Chino, center, President of ADB; and Mr. Rajat M. Nag, left, Director General of Mekong Dept., ADB, meeting with AIT administration, led by Prof. Jean-Louis Armand, AIT President.

At the dinner hosted by AIT, Mr. Tadao Chino, standing, delivering his speech to AIT Administration and faculty, led by Prof. Jean-Louis Armand, AIT President.

Prof. Jean-Louis Armand, right, AIT President, presenting a souvenir to Mr. Tadao Chino, President of ADB.