MANILA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Friday that it has approved a new road map to confront critical challenges facing Asia and the Pacific, including accelerated efforts to combat climate change and expand private sector development.
The ADB's Strategy 2030 Midterm Review, an update of its corporate strategy, outlined how the bank will transform in a rapidly changing development landscape and respond to challenges threatening its vision for a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable region, the bank said in its press release.
"Cascading shocks have derailed years of development progress in Asia and the Pacific. The ADB is updating its vision, expanding its financial capacity, and modernizing its operational approach to help its members respond to these unprecedented challenges, including the accelerating climate crisis, public health crises, and economic and fiscal vulnerability," said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.
He said that the new road map sets "an unprecedented level of ambition and focus for ADB's work and will ensure we meet the moment through bold action and transformative impact."
In line with its mandate to fight poverty and improve lives and livelihoods, the ADB said it will deepen its focus on five of the region's most pressing development issues: climate action, private sector development, regional cooperation and public goods, digital transformation, and resilience and empowerment.
To boost the region's response to climate change, the ADB will target climate finance to reach 50 percent of its total annual committed financing volume by 2030. The ADB is committed to reaching over 100 billion U.S. dollars in cumulative climate finance from 2019 to 2030.
To expand private sector development, the ADB will target total private sector financing of 13 billion dollars for 2030, a tripling of current volumes.
Those new actions build on the ADB's ongoing efforts to increase its funding capacity and improve its efficiency in response to calls for reforms to how multilateral development banks are organized and provide support to their members, the Manila-based bank said. ■
