[Kurosawa seminar] Visiting ADB office in Tokyo (Mr. Tomomi Tamaki) (22 August 2013)

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 On 22 August 2013, Kurosawa seminar visited ADB (Asian Development Bank) office in Tokyo, which was located in Kasumigaseki building.
 Mr. Tomomi Tamaki, Representative of Tokyo Office, explained us about outline of ADB.
 The main salient points are as follows:
– ADB was founded by 1966, headquarter was located in Manila, Philippines.
– The member countriesof ADB are 57.
– Main purpose is to help developing countries in Asia.
– Main investment countries are Japan and America.
– The number of professional staff from Japan in ADB is 149, while the number of total professional staff is 1076.
– The share of Japanese staff is about 15.3%.
– There are two types of financing in ADB; one is OCR (Ordinary Capital Resources), the other is ADF (Asian Development Fund).

 Comparatively developed country in Asia such as India can receive OCR. OCR is concessional loan, so country which accepts OCR should repay back.
 On the other hand, a poverty-stricken country such as Bangladesh can receive ADF. ADF has a low interest rate, but country which accepts ADF has responsibility of explaining how they use money for their country. ADF is usually used for project such as education, social security. More a poverty-stricken country receive grant. Also some countries receive both OCR and ADF.
– The share of Japanese and American contribution to OCR is same percentage, but Japanese contribution to ADF is much higher than America.
– ADB has long-term strategy for 2020.
 There are three development agendas for Asia and the Pacific;
1. Inclusive Economic Growth
2. Environmentally Sustainable Growth
3. Regional Integration.
5 core areas of operations:
 (1) Infrastructure
 (2) Environment
 (3) Regional cooperation and Integration
 (4) Finance Sector development
 (5) Education
(Yoon Junho)