AIT to confer Honorary Degree on ADB President
 |
| Tadao Chino |
MR. TADAO CHINO, President of the Asian Development Bank, will be conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Technology at the 89th graduation ceremony of the ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 18 AUGUST 2000, in recognition of his role in the economic and social development of the Asia-Pacific region and his strategic vision in leading the ADB in the fight against poverty. The Honorary Degree will be conferred by Prof. Jean-Louis Armand, AIT President.
Mr. Chino will also address the graduating class, numbering 189 members from over 20 countries in Asia and the Pacific. Over 50 are Thai nationals. The majority of the graduates are from the School of Environment, Resources and Development, the largest of AIT's four Schools.
AIT, an independent regional institution of higher learning at the post graduate level, is a leader in the promotion of technological change and its management for sustainable development in the region. Since the first graduation in 1961, AIT has produced some 10,440 graduates from 59 countries in Asia and the Pacific, America, Europe and Africa.
AIT and the ADB have worked in collaboration in many of their activities. Notable among these collaborations is the provision to-date of 158 scholarships to AIT through the ADB-Japan Scholarship Program, which was established in 1988 to support qualified students from the ADB's developing member countries. Indirectly, scholarships have been provided through ADB loans to developing member countries. These include loans to R&D; institutions in Sri Lanka under its Science and Technology Personnel Development Project, and to Indonesia through the Second Land Resource Evaluation Project and Higher Education Project.
With support from international bodies, AIT's poverty alleviation efforts extend to the Greater Mekong Sub-region, a term fittingly coined by the ADB. AIT collaborations with the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in HRD and training programs are under consideration.
Since assuming the presidency in January 1999, Mr. Chino has been spearheading ADB's mission to reduce poverty, making it the over-arching goal. Under Mr. Chino's presidency, the ADB has also intensified its involvement in such sectors as education, health, population, gender issues, finance and good governance. By seeking a balanced portfolio of lending and non-lending services, Mr. Chino is changing the way the ADB does business. Considerable attention is being given to technical assistance, policy dialogue, capacity and institutional building, a more participatory approach, and stakeholder consultation.
Mr. Chino was closely involved in the creation of the ADB. As an official of Japan's Ministry of Finance, Mr. Chino was seconded in 1964 to the then Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE). While at ECAFE, he was responsible for preparing and planning the establishment of a regional development bank, paving the way for the foundation of the ADB in 1966.