AIM @ ADB

Professor Nihal Amerangsinhe of the Center for Development Management always wants to give his students opportunities to broaden their horizons and acquire added knowledge outside the campus. And so on that fine Friday morning of 26 June, a busload of 32 Master in Development Management students arrived at the Asian Development Bank in Ortigas, Mandaluyong City. What better way to learn about what’s happening in Asia than by hearing it from ADB officials themselves?

A former ADB official himself, Professor Amerangsinhe knew who to approach in ADB so that his class can get the best presentations for their half-day visit. Two of his former staff were just too willing to brief the students. Xianbin Yao, Director General of the Regional and Sustainable Development Dept. welcomed the students and shared with them how ADB has been responding to “the challenges of a changing region” that suffered from the oil shock in the 1970s, benefited from the “Asian miracle” in the 1980s, was jolted by the financial crisis in the 1990s, and recently weighed down by the global crisis coming from the West.

His other staff, Joseph Zveglich Jr, Assistant Chief Economist, helped the MDM students understand the global economic scenario and what is the outlook for the short-term. Asia’s GDP growth, as seen by ADB, will grow by 3.4% in 2009 compared to 6.3% in 2008. Growth is expected to be higher in 2010 at 6.0%.

Other speakers included Shiladitya Chatterjee of the Strategic and Policy Dept; climate change specialist David McCauley; principal economist Ganeshan Wignaraja; and Indu Bhushan of the Strategy, Policy, and Interagency Relations Division.

The ADB visit was capped by a sumptuous lunch sponsored by Director General Masayuki Tamagawa of the Budget, Personnel, and Management Systems Department.