ZCZC
BCN-20
ADB-PRESIDENT-M.ASAKAWA
Masatsugu Asakawa elected ADB new president
MANILA, Dec. 2, 2019 (BSS/Xinhua) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB)
announced on Monday that its Board of Governors has “unanimously elected”
Masatsugu Asakawa as ADB president.
Asakawa, 61, currently special advisor to Japan’s prime minister and
minister of finance, will assume office as ADB’s 10th president on Jan. 17,
2020.
He will succeed Takehiko Nakao, who will leave office on Jan. 16, 2020.
Asakawa will finish the unexpired term of Nakao, which ends on Nov. 23, 2021.
“Asakawa’s extensive and diverse experience in international finance and
development will serve ADB well in pursuing its vision of a prosperous,
inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific,” said Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance of South Korea and Chair
of the ADB Board of Governors Hong Nam-Ki, adding that “the ADB Board of
Governors looks forward to working with Asakawa.”
In a career spanning close to four decades, the ADB said Asakawa has held
a range of senior positions at the Ministry of Finance of Japan, including
vice minister of finance for international affairs, and gained diverse
professional experience in development policy, foreign exchange markets, and
international tax policy.
Asakawa served as finance deputy for the 2019 G20 Osaka Summit and the G20
Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Fukuoka, Japan, the
ADB said.
Furthermore, in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis,
the ADB said Asakawa took part in the first G20 Leaders’ Summit Meeting in
his capacity as executive assistant to the then Prime Minister Taro Aso.
Asakawa has had frequent engagement with the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development, including as chair of the Committee on Fiscal
Affairs from 2011 to 2016, the ADB said.
The ADB said Asakawa served as a visiting professor at the University of
Tokyo from 2012 to 2015 and at Saitama University from 2006 to 2009.
According to the ADB, Asakawa obtained his Bachelor of Arts from the
University of Tokyo in 1981 and MPA from Princeton University in 1985.
Established in 1966, the ADB is composed of 68 members, 49 of which are
from the region.
BSS/XINHUA/HR/1435