IFEZ Journal

The Center of Asia’s Rebound:

The 56th ADB Annual Meeting Concludes Successfully

The 56th ADB (Asian Development Bank) Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors, which was held at Songdo Convensia in Incheon from May 2 to 5, concluded. 

The event proceeded, beginning with the opening address, discussions among the governors, and the Korean culture night, all held in a flourish of activity. 

The annual meeting produced meaningful results, and the participants pledged to move toward a bright future through recovery, mutual solidarity, and reform.

05.03. Korea and the ADB agree to establish a Climate Technology Hub (K-HUB).

① The hub will serve as a base for climate networks by selecting public and private climate experts from Asia, including within Korea, and connecting them with the world.

② The aim is to jointly establish this hub by 2024.

05.04. The Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IF-CAP) was officially launched.

① Participating countries: six countries (Korea, USA, UK, Japan, Sweden, and Denmark)

② This is an innovative financial facility that utilizes leverage effects through guarantees for the first time among multilateral development banks, with the leverage effects reaching up to five times.

③ The ADB aims to increase its loan limit by up to USD 15 billion through the USD 3 billion guaranteed by the IF-CAP.

Designing the Future of Asia in Incheon

The 56th ADB (Asian Development Bank) Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors, held at Songdo Convensia in Incheon over the course of four days (from May 2 to 5), took place under the theme of “Rebounding Asia: Recover, Reconnect, and Reform” and boasted its largest scale ever. The event attracted more than 5,000 participants, including finance ministers from member countries, central bank governors, officials from international organizations, representatives from the private sector and civic groups, and journalists.

ADB is an international financial institution established to promote economic growth and cooperation in Asia and to facilitate economic progress for developing countries in the region. The ADB Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors is the ADB’s largest event for finance ministers and central bank governors representing member countries to gather in sharing their economic policy directions and forming a partnership within the region. This event hosted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the ADB, and sponsored by the city of Incheon, was the first face-to-face annual meeting held in the three years since COVID-19’s emergence.

The opening ceremony was attended by delegations from more than 60 ADB member countries, composed of finance ministers and central bank governors, key actors from the ADB, and delegations from major international organizations like the IMF, OECD, etc. The event served as a great venue for exchanges to resume economic cooperation after a period of suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to discuss ways to overcome the crisis and a sustainable future for Asian countries. The annual meeting consisted of the “Business Session” to approve the ADB’s major agenda, the “Governors Seminar” and “Governors Plenary” to discuss the directions and future of Asia’s economy, and the “Korea Seminar” to highlight Korean companies and technologies. This was followed by K-Pop performances and traditional cultural presentations to introduce the diverse range of Korean culture.

“All countries around the world, including in Asia, will be able to overcome the various crises we are currently facing through strong solidarity and partnership among countries. Under the three visions of freedom, peace, and prosperity, established at last year’s ASEAN Summit, Korea will actively contribute to cooperation in the Indo-Pacific Economic Development policies based on the principles of inclusiveness, trust, and reciprocity.”

President Yoon Suk-yeol

Tourism and MICE Industries Expected to Be Vitalized in the Global City of Incheon

There is a close connection between the city of Incheon and the ADB; this is because the Gyeongin Expressway connecting Incheon and Seoul was Korea’s first expressway, completed in 1968 with support from the ADB. In this context, Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok expressed his extraordinary impressions of the ADB Annual Meeting from the host city’s perspective. The city of Incheon made every effort to ensure the success of the ADB Annual Meeting held in Songdo International City, which has grown on the basis of such special solidarity. The city government helped participants to access the venue easily and conveniently, making strides to ensure that the event could be held safely and pleasantly. For example, an eco-friendly hydrogen city-bus service was offered to participants, along with facilities for medical/firefighting/sanitary inspection/disease surveillance and quarantine activities, as well as parking enforcement.

In addition, the city government has prepared a multitude of amenities to create an active welcoming atmosphere for visitors to Incheon to gather a good impression of this global city. For this, tour programs were organized to introduce participants to major attractions in Incheon, such as Ganghwa-gun, Gaehangjang (Open Port Area) Street, Songdo International City, etc. On top of this, a luncheon hosted by the mayor of Incheon was held to welcome guests (May 4), along with a spectacular drone show (May 3).

In addition, an exhibition hall was installed at the venue to introduce Incheon’s startups, bio companies, and IFEZ, promoting the city’s excellent investment environment to the world.

The Incheon Environmental Exhibition Hall highlighted the creation of a low-carbon economic-ecological city, one of the four major policies under “Incheon’s Vision for Carbon Neutrality by 2045,” along with the expansion of citizen-tailored climate actions, vitalization of the global cooperation system for the climate, creating a safe city from the climate crisis, and 15 major tasks. Moreover, three players (Environmental Corporation of Incheon, Hyundai E&C, and Coway Entech) jointly held daily briefing sessions to promote excellent carbon-neutral environmental technologies linked to sewage treatment and incineration technologies, attracting great attention from participating countries in need of environment-related urban infrastructure.

+ ADB(Asian Development Bank) 

Purpose Poverty reduction in the Asia-Pacific region

Established in 1966

Location Manila, Philippines

Member countries 68 countries (49 countries in the region, 19 countries outside the region)

Main function

Development finance for economic progress of developing countries in the region; promotion of development in developing countries; support for policy and plan coordination; technical assistance; cooperation with other international organizations, etc.

Relations with Korea

Korea is a founding member state, joining in 1966

Cities that hosted ADB Annual Meetings

3rd (Seoul, 1970), 37th (Jeju, 2004), 56th (Incheon, 2023)