27 October 2008: Summary of Advisory Council Meeting

In October, a meeting of the Advisory Council (AC) took place in Manila at ADB, where they discussed ADBI's Three-Year Rolling Work Program. The AC members supported ADBI Dean Kawai's vision and strategic direction, agreeing that poverty reduction should be ADBI's over-arching research objective. The AC endorsed ADBI's three new strategic priority themes: inclusive and sustainable growth, regional cooperation and integration, and governance for policies and institutions. They also saw the importance of private sector issues which cut across these three strategic themes.

The AC members endorsed the Research and Capacity Building and Training (CBT) departments' proposed work programs. One of the main points of discussion was the form and the extent to which issues relating to the current global financial crisis should be incorporated into ADBI's programs. The members suggested that ADBI undertake a major research project and create CBT activities related to this matter.

ADBI was commended for the high quality of its website, underlining its crucial importance in disseminating the activities of ADBI. The AC members welcomed ADBI's impressive output, including eNewsline, which they called excellent and suggested should be promoted by ADBI.