TOKYO—Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has called on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to take a lead role in the recovery efforts of Asia-Pacific economies battered by shock waves from the COVID-19 pandemic and further weighed down by the impact of the prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Last year at the ADB Governors Seminar, Secretary Dominguez urged the multilateral bank to raise its capital to be able to expand its lending portfolio and effectiveness in the next five years as it fulfills its role of extending support to the post-pandemic recovery of its developing member-countries.
The Manila-based ADB has the lowest lending costs among the multilateral development banks (MDBs), owing to its efficient management under its President Masatsugu Asakawa.
Secretary Dominguez also relayed the Philippines’ deep appreciation of the support provided by Japan and the ADB to the Duterte administration’s pandemic response efforts and development initiatives such as “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure modernization program, during his recent meeting here with former Japanese Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tarō Asō and Mr. Asakawa.
The invaluable assistance provided by Japan and the ADB, in partnership with the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIIB), to the Philippines’ pandemic response programs has led to an accelerated COVID-19 national vaccination drive and, eventually, the full reopening of the Philippine economy this year, Secretary Dominguez said.
Secretary Dominguez invited Mr. Asō, who is currently the Vice President of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), to visit the Philippines where COVID-19 cases are rapidly subsiding, and which now welcomes the entry of vaccinated visitors from other countries.
During the meeting that was also attended by Philippine Ambassador to Japan Jose Laurel V and Finance Undersecretary Mark Dennis Joven, their discussions also included the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict; and the future of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which is the proposed free trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim economies.
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