{"id":114054,"date":"2021-05-05T17:09:17","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T00:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=114054"},"modified":"2021-05-05T17:09:17","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T00:09:17","slug":"prime-minister-mahinda-rajapaksa-elected-chair-of-the-asian-development-bank-board-of-governors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/05\/05\/prime-minister-mahinda-rajapaksa-elected-chair-of-the-asian-development-bank-board-of-governors\/","title":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa Elected Chair of the Asian Development Bank Board of Governors"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><strong>Prime Minister\u2019s Media Unit<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u0d86\u0dc3\u0dd2\u0dba\u0dcf\u0db1\u0dd4 \u0dc3\u0d82\u0dc0\u0dbb\u0dca\u0db0\u0db1 \u0db6\u0dd0\u0d82\u0d9a\u0dd4 \u0d85\u0db0\u0dd2\u0db4\u0dad\u0dd2\u0dc0\u0dbb\u0dd4\u0db1\u0dca\u0d9c\u0dda \u0db8\u0dd4\u0dbd\u0dc3\u0dd4\u0db1\u0da7 \u0d85\u0d9c\u0dca\u200d\u0dbb\u0dcf\u0db8\u0dcf\u0dad\u0dca\u200d\u0dba \u0db8\u0dc4\u0dd2\u0db1\u0dca\u0daf \u0dbb\u0dcf\u0da2\u0db4\u0d9a\u0dca\u0dc2...\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ktPiwrf6g-E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who, as the Minister\nof Finance, serves as the Governor for Sri Lanka of the Asian Development Bank\n(ADB), was elected Chair of the ADB Board of Governors for the year 2021\/2022\nduring the 54th Annual Meeting that was held virtually this afternoon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The annual meeting that was originally scheduled to be\nheld in Tbilisi, Georgia, had to take place in a virtual format due to the\ncurrent pandemic. During the meeting, the Governors of Austria and Mongolia\nwere also elected as Vice-Chairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 55th Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Governors\nis scheduled to be held in Colombo next year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Full Text of Prime Minister\nRajapaksa\u2019s Speech at the 54th Annual Meeting of the ADB<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Fellow Governors, President Asakawa, Delegates, Ladies\nand Gentlemen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Ayubowan!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>It is indeed a privilege to be able to participate and\nshare my thoughts at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank,\nespecially since next year<\/em><em>\u2019<\/em><em>s meeting is scheduled to be held in\nColombo.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented\nloss of human life and has disrupted almost all aspects of our lives, our\nsocieties, our economies, our value systems and our cultural practices. In that\nbackground, I believe the time is now right to reflect and re-group. After all,\nthis century is the Asian Century. Our region has faced many crises, but Asia\nis also known for its resilience. Therefore, it is not surprising that our\nregion is leading the growth story of the world, even during the current\npandemic.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Fellow Governors, emerging Asia has a responsibility\nto lead the world. We must ensure sustainable practices that will make our\nenvironment resilient to climate change. Our policy solutions must be\nenvironmentally and socially sustainable. We must preserve our way of life for\nfuture generations. The need now is to collectively cooperate in addressing our\ncommon issues.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Towards this goal, we must be ready to adopt practices\nand technologies that help us make use of natural resources more efficiently.\nIn that regard, Sri Lanka has already identified the importance of\ndigitalization to facilitate the delivery of services within a <\/em><em>green\neconomy.<\/em><em>\u201d Our Government has also accelerated the drive to digitize public sector\nservices as well.&nbsp; <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We must, in addition, reduce our reliance on fossil\nfuels. We believe the ADB must lead the way in supporting member countries to\nmake the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. We also believe the\nADB must extend support to emerging Asia to have smarter, eco-sustainable cities.\nIt should be a new approach to ensure that access to resources is better\nmanaged. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Another important area of focus is Women Empowerment.\nWe must recognize the crucial role that women play in creating a just and\nequitable society. While the Asian region has made significant strides in this\nregard, this is still an area that requires more work as well as the allocation\nof more resources.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>At this time, let us also acknowledge the support\nextended by the ADB during the pandemic, which included the quick disbursement\nof a 20-billion dollar package. The 9-billion dollar Asia Pacific Vaccine\nAccess Facility has also assisted Sri Lanka and many other countries to gain\naccess to much-needed vaccines, and we are thankful to the ADB for this\nsupport.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Fellow Governors, President Asakawa and Delegates, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The challenges ahead of us are daunting. However, I am\ncertain that, together, we will be able to address these challenges efficiently\nand effectively, and that the ADB will provide the necessary leadership for\nthat effort.&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Finally, as the incoming Chair, it is my great\npleasure to invite you to Colombo next year to attend the 55th Annual Meeting\nof the ADB Board of Governors. I look forward to continuing this important\ndialogue, and I wish you good health and safety!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>May the Triple Gem Bless you all<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister\u2019s Media Unit Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who, as the Minister of Finance, serves as the Governor for Sri Lanka of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), was elected Chair of the ADB Board of Governors for the year 2021\/2022 during the 54th Annual Meeting that was held virtually this afternoon. The annual meeting that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}