8/3/2019 Opening Remarks by President Kuroda ADB Korea Knowledge Oct 11

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Opening Remarksby

Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda, PresidentAsian Development Bank

at theRepublic of Korea-ADB Conference on Knowledge Sharing

and Development Effectiveness in the Asia and Pacific Region

9:00 a.m., 7 October 2011Auditorium Zones B through D, ADB HQ, Manila, Philippines

I. Introduction

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen: Good morning.

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Conference on Knowledge Sharing andDevelopment Effectiveness in the Asia and Pacific Region.

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to our co-host, the KoreanGovernment, led by Deputy Minister Choi of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. I ampleased to have with us today the former Minister of Strategy and Finance of Korea andformer ADB Executive Director, Mr. Jeung-Hyun Yoon.

II. World Economy and Asia

Today, we are looking at an Asiaparticularly a developing Asiathat hasproved a remarkable resilience since the 2008/09 global economic crisis. In the late1990s the Asian financial crisis made the region a focus of global concern; nowdeveloping Asia has proven itself part of the global solution.

Despite some increasing downside risks, we remain cautiously optimistic aboutdeveloping Asias short-term growth prospects. The regions GDP grew 9.0% in 2010.With the fragile recovery in advanced economies, last years export rebound hasmoderated this year. And with stimulus unwinding, private domestic demand must take

over. ADB currently forecasts GDP growth to ease somewhat, but remain vibrant at7.5% in both 2011 and 2012.

While the regions authorities are justly proud of the economic resilience, there isno room for complacency.

The external environment for developing Asia's growth remains uncertain. Thedebt crisis in Europe and political stalemate over the US deficit have exacerbated the

8/3/2019 Opening Remarks by President Kuroda ADB Korea Knowledge Oct 11

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anemic recovery in advanced economies. Despite all the talk of decoupling, Asiasfortunes remain strategically linked to consumers in Europe and North America, at leastfor the time being. ADBs current cautiously optimistic forecast is subject to the impactfrom advanced economies if they further deteriorate.

Having said that, our challenge throughout the region is to produce new,permanent jobs and strengthen developing Asias productive backbone. Productivity is akey to sustaining the regions medium- and long-term economic growth. Short-termaggregate demand management must give way to longer-term structural reforms. Theregion must now focus beyond recovery. It must embrace the opportunity to restructureits economies to ensure that economic growth is inclusive. And we must ensure thateconomic growth is environmentally sustainable. We need to turn our advantageglobally into long-term economic growth that benefits all our people.

III. Knowledge Sharing and Partnership

Against this background, knowledge solutions are becoming more and more

important in Asia. In our long term strategic framework, Strategy 2020, ADB ispositioned to play a bigger role in putting the potential of knowledge solutions to work inthe Asia and Pacific region. We recognize that knowledge sharing is an indispensablecomplement to financial and technical assistance. Under our knowledge sharingprogram, we intend to more closely link our knowledge sharing objectives withoperations, deliver more cost-effective learning programs, expand outreach activitiesthrough information and communication technologies, and provide high quality learningopportunities. We hope that the knowledge sharing in this Conference will help thesegoals.

The importance of partnerships cannot be overemphasized in order for us to

meet the diverse demands for knowledge from our member countries. Partnershipbetween Korea and ADB is invaluable, and it opens up new opportunities formaximizing knowledge sharing in the Asia and Pacific region. Todays conference is animportant step to further deepen partnership between Korea and ADB. We also lookforward to strengthening our partnerships with other countries and developmentinstitutions.

IV. Concluding Remarks

I would like to thank the Korean Government for its support for knowledgesharing, knowledge partnership with us, and its co-hosting this Conference. And I thank

all of you for participating, particularly those from our developing member countries anddevelopment partners.

Thank you.