(7 September 2015 – Asia) Amid questions of how Chinese-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will change Asian Development Bank (ADB) , its president, Takehiko Nakao recently told NZ herald that the bank sees room for both lenders.
In May, Nakao and AIIB's president-in-waiting Jin Liqun held talks, reaching agreement on a variety of points. Among the issues discussed, the pair agreed on the need to reduce poverty and increased infrastructure financing in Asia.
“We agreed on the importance of infrastructure in economic development and also social development and poverty reduction,” said Nakao.
“We agreed that we need more financing for infrastructure in Asia.
“We agreed that the safeguard for social and economic impact is very important for infrastructure building.
“We also agreed that we can collaborate, including co-financing projects.
“In short, we need financing for infrastructure more than less, so it's nice to have such a player and we can co-finance, we can collaborate.
As the AIIB is yet to be operating in earnest, it is not possible to compare the theory of co-operation with the practice. However Nakao said there was no need for the ADB to be more proactive, because it was already proactive.
It had offices in 26 countries and was close to discussions by government authorities about development strategies.
Nakao makes one concession on the arrival of the AIIB. “There will be incentives for us to do better because there is a new player, to speed up our processes and to enhance more efficiency.”
China is the ADB's second largest borrower – with loans totalling US$31.58 billion (A$45.56 billion) since 1986 and US$1.5 billion over the last year.