ADB looks forward to closely cooperating with AIIB

MANILA - The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) is looking forward to cooperating closely with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Director General of ADB's Strategy and Policy Department Indu Bhushan said in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua.

Bhushan said that the ADB is willing to cooperate with the AIIB, with possible co-financing in some projects.

The Articles of Agreement (AOA) for AIIB has been finalized and should be ready for signing by the end of June. The China-proposed bank is scheduled to be launched by the end of the year with planned authorized capital of $100 billion.

As one of the biggest development banks in the region, ADB would be willing, if requested, to provide some suggestions to AIIB, according to Bhushan.

The ADB, with Japan as its major contributor, approved $22.93 billion in development assistance in 2014.

"We hope AIIB's projects will provide maximum social and economic benefits to the countries it assists. In a recent meeting with Liqun Jin, secretary general of the Multilateral Interim Secretariat on Establishing the AIIB, both ADB and AIIB reaffirmed the importance of environmental and social safeguards for projects, " Bhushan said.

To build a "lean, clean and green" AIIB, Jin said that China will adopt some "good experiences" from existing multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank and ADB. "But in the meantime, on our own we will seek improvements and innovation on the management of the new bank," Jin said.

Referring to ADB's current practice on loan projects evaluation, Bhushan said, "Each ADB loan is carefully appraised for technical and financial viability, as well as compliance with safeguards related to environmental, social and fiduciary issues. This careful assessment of projects at the appraisal level reduces the risks of the loans and improves the probability of their success."

"During the project implementation phase, ADB closely monitors and oversees these projects to ensure their success. After the projects are completed, ADB evaluates them to assess whether the intended benefits are achieved. In addition, ADB's Independent Evaluation Department selects sample of these projects and validates ADB's own evaluation," Bhushan added.

ADB provides support for infrastructure, education, finance, agriculture, and health sectors across the Asia-Pacific region.