Additional items from ASIAN Development Bank - AGM

By Hiroo Aoba  On 3 May, in the session titled “New Asian-European Approaches on Finance and Infrastructure”, Mr. Friedrich Kitschelt, State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), stated in his key note speech that seventeen (17) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the “political compass” of ADB operations to reduce poverty in Asia. He further mentioned that while private funding would pla...

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By Hiroo Aoba  In the evening on 2 May, Germany's Host Country Reception took place to welcome participants of the ADB Annual Governors’ Meeting. Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel was present and stressed the importance of ADB’s contribution to poverty reduction in Asia. A key word in her speech was “sustainability”. Referring to sustainable development goals (SDGs) 2030, Chancellor Merkel identified ADB as one of the most important players to make such goals real in Asia.

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By Gh Psi German Executive Director said the German government is using this 49th Annual Governor Meeting to give a new push on CLS !

By Gh Psi Claude Apokavie, ILO Senior specialist, Bureau of Workers Activities said "respect the rights because its the right thing to do! "

Gh Psi PSI/NGO Forum on ADB Panel: CLS in ADB operations 

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By Hiroo Aoba 

The session titled "Quality Employment and a Better Workplace" has started with the key note speech by Mr. Gerd Müller, 

Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany. After his analysis on the current situation surrounding
international trade, and the relationship between the industrial countries and developing countries, he stressed the urgent
need to transform the world trade system from "free" to "fair".

After the key note speech, four panelists were invited to discuss factors that contribute to the creation of good jobs,
including technological change, and to address how labor regulations and social insurance systems can be bundled to balance the well-being of workers with the firms’ needs to respond to new technologies and rapid changes in economic conditions.

Ms. Sharan Burrow, ITUC's General Secretary, was the first to speak. She explained carefully about the dire situation in
which precarious workers, as well as those in the informal sector, live. A panelist, who is the founder of a human resource
outsourcing company, responded by saying that private enterprises are job creators, and entrepreneurs should not be blamed for such social issues. In return, she said that private enterprises should pay taxes properly where they earn and contribute to expenses of social welfare to support the social protection floors. In addition, she introduced an example in which a minimum wage was raised so that people could live with dignity.

By Hiroo Aoba Argued that lack of consultations with the civil society was very common at respective ADB projects. Mr. Nessim Ahmad, Deputy Director General of Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, has represented ADB in this session. He explained about the measures being undertaken to fulfill the gaps identified in the above-mentioned report, including the due diligence mechanism which ADB institutionalized, and said the number of safeguard specialists within ADB has been significantly increased. Regional Secretary Lakshmi argued that the establishment of Labour Desk is essential for the improvement of safeguards system.