Deepening Cooperation with the Asian Development Bank

In the large family of multilateral development banks the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the OPEC Fund have been closely aligned partners for decades and regular exchange is key to maintaining this excellent relationship. An OPEC Fund delegation led by Jaafar Al-Mahdi, Director, Asia & the Pacific, Public Sector Operations, and including Public Sector Country Managers Fatma Elzahra Elshhati and Yousef Almulhem, attended the 2023 ADB Annual Meeting in early May. 

It was the 56th ADB Annual Meeting and the first in-person convention since the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, the theme of the conference was “Rebounding Asia: Recover, Reconnect, and Reform”. Set against anaemic global growth of barely 2.8 percent in 2023, Asia remains one of the few bright spots with the IMF projecting 4.6 percent growth in its latest forecast published in April (see page 54). 

For the OPEC Fund this means opportunities and challenges alike. A growing economy must be translated into sustainable development and the benefits must be shared widely across the region. Asia is the OPEC Fund’s second largest area of operations and enormous investment and development needs persist in many countries. 

How to narrow these gaps was the subject of many conversations with OPEC Fund partner country delegations from Armenia, Bangladesh, Fiji, Georgia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Viet Nam, Sri Lanka, Türkiye, Samoa and Timor Leste. The Annual Meeting visit was prepared by an earlier mission led by OPEC Fund Senior Director, Strategic Planning & Economic Services, Al Shaimaa Al-Sheiby, in March, exploring and deepening areas of collaboration. 

The ADB Annual Meeting took place in Incheon, South Korea. The city in the vicinity of the capital Seoul symbolizes the meteoric rise and vast potential of the region: When Incheon became an independent port in 1883 it was home to 4,700 people. Today, about three million people live in the city, which buzzes with economic energy.