Samir Sharifov attends ADB annual meeting 

On May 5, The 54th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was held through videoconferencing, Report informs, with reference to the Finance Ministry.

The meeting under the motto “Collaboration for Resilient & Green Recovery” was attended by ministers from member countries, heads of central banks, high-ranked state, and government officials.

Azerbaijan was represented by Finance Minister Samir Sharifov.

The current chair of the Board of Governors, Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili, and ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa made speeches at the annual meeting.

The agenda of the meeting includes a discussion of the Bank's annual report for 2020, report of the Board on internal control over financial reporting and opinions of independent auditors, approval of the budget for 2021, determination of net income, review of rules and regulations applied by the bank, determination of the date and venue of the 55th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors to be held in 2022 and other issues.

Problems and new challenges in Asia and the Pacific basin, including strengthening cooperation for a sustainable future, taking effective action against global climate change, maintaining economic growth supported by the initial advances in COVID-19 vaccination, as well as the opening of the Asia-Pacific tax hub to support the challenges of economic recovery and strengthen tax cooperation between member countries was discussed at the annual meeting.

The 54th Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Governors had to be held on May 3-5, 2021 in Tbilisi, Georgia. However, it was decided to hold the Annual Meeting in video conference format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.