Asian Development Bank Appointment

Richard Stanley has been appointed Alternate Executive Director of the Asian Development Bank, Finance Minister Michael Cullen announced today.

"Richard has a wealth of experience that equips him ideally for the task. I'm confident he will serve New Zealand and the rest of the Bank constituency well," Dr Cullen said.

Mr Stanley, previously a business manager with the Bank of New Zealand in Auckland, has a strong professional and academic background in development banking in the Pacific Islands.

"This position is significant as it allows New Zealand to have a real say in the Bank's work and the Bank lends billions of dollars every year throughout Asia and the Pacific. It also allows us to work very closely with Indonesia, the largest borrower from the Bank," Dr Cullen said.

"Mr Stanley takes up his position at a crucial time. The next several years must see progress in following up the Monterrey Conference on financing for development and the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The Bank will be working hard on the intermediate steps to help its member countries reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

"This is a huge challenge, but also an unprecedented opportunity, for New Zealand and the Bank to work together with our developing country partners in the best interests of eliminating poverty in our region.

"His role on the Board is to represent the views of a constituency of Asian Development Bank countries including New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tonga and Samoa. He will have the full support of the Treasury and the New Zealand Agency for International Development in this endeavour.

"Mr Stanley succeeds the New Zealand incumbent, Mr John Austin, who has held the job for the last six years" Dr Cullen said.

The appointment was formally made by Dr Jusuf Anwar, the Executive Director from Indonesia representing New Zealand on the 12-seat Board of the Bank, on Dr Cullen's recommendation.

BACKGROUND ON NEW ZEALAND AND THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

New Zealand was a founding member of the Asian Development Bank in 1966 and is currently the 10th largest shareholder in the Bank among its regional members. New Zealand also contributes through its Official Development Assistance programme to the Bank's concessionary financing facility, the Asian Development Fund.

In 2001, Asian Development Bank provided loans totalling US$ 5.3 billion to developing countries in Asia and the Pacific. Indonesia has been the largest borrower from the Bank, with a total of about US$ 18 billion at end 2000.

The Millennium Development Goals were agreed by all member governments at the United Nations in 2000. They aim to cut global poverty in half by 2015, and make significant progress in a range of social and environmental areas, and establish a global partnership for development covering trade, aid, and debt relief. The Monterrey and Sustainable Development conferences in 2002 addressed ways to finance that development, and put in place strategies to ensure that it is broadly sustainable.

The Treasury and New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID) are the shareholding partner and development partner respectively in relations with the Bank. NZAID was formed as a semi-autonomous agency within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on 1 July 2002 and has a core focus on poverty elimination and the Pacific region.

The web site of the Bank is http:// http://www.adb.org

A fact sheet about New Zealand and the Asian Development Bank is at http://www.adb.org/Documents/Fact_Sheets/NZL.asp

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