ADBI Welcomes New Dean, Masahiro Kawai

Mr. Kawai joined ADBI on 16 January 2007 after serving as Head of ADB's Office of Regional Economic Integration and Special Advisor to the ADB President in charge of regional economic cooperation and integration.

Mr. Kawai said on his arrival, that "I would like to see ADBI become a leading institute in Asia and the Pacific for the creation of knowledge on long-term structural issues for economic development and provide effective development strategies and capacity building." He added "ADBI has embarked on the study of Infrastructure for Regional Cooperation which is vital for economic development and poverty reduction." The theme "will be reflected in many of ADBI's activities in 2007 and with the publication of a flagship study", he says.

Mr. Kawai has had a distinguished academic career as a Research Fellow at Brookings Institution, an Assistant and Associate Professor in the economics department of Johns Hopkins University, and a Professor at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Social Science. He was also Special Research Advisor at the Institute of Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Japan's Ministry of Finance, and a visiting researcher at the Bank of Japan's Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies and at the Economic Planning Agency's Economic Research Institute.

Mr. Kawai also worked as Chief Economist for the World Bank's East Asia and the Pacific Region from 1998 to 2001, and as Deputy Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs of Japan's Ministry of Finance from 2001 to 2003. He served as a consultant at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and at the International Monetary Fund, in Washington, DC.

Mr. Kawai has published a number of books and numerous articles on economic globalization, on regional financial integration and cooperation in East Asia, including lessons from the Asian crisis, and on the international currency system.

He graduated with his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Economics. He earned his M.S. degree in Statistics and Ph.D. degree in Economics from Stanford University.