Asian Peoples Movement on Debt & Development (APMDD) & Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC).

Sustainable development figures prominently in this year’s meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank’s with its chosen theme “Cooperating for Sustainability”. ADB has also expressed many times its support for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by directing “enhanced resources to human needs, infrastructure, and cross-border public goods to eradicate poverty and strengthen sustainable development.”
For many Asian developing peoples, however, whose governments have participated for almost half a century in ADB’s poverty reduction programs, the 49th ADB-AGM also gives rise to challenging these pronouncements. While Asia’s economic growth has risen above other global regions, it is also the site of deepening wealth and income inequality. While poverty indicators are said to have improved over the years, impoverishment and deprivation continue to mark the lives of millions of people in ADB’s Developing Member Countries, rendering them highly vulnerable especially because our region is gravely impacted by climate change.