BEIJING:The structure of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) 53rd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors will be adjusted given the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The ADB Board of Directors approved a proposal that the annual meeting, originally scheduled for May 25, 2020 in Incheon, Republic of Korea, will be conducted in two stages, according to a news release issued here on Monday.
The first stage will comprise a reduced-scale meeting of the Board of Governors, predominantly through their appointed representatives, in Manila on 22 May 2020. This will enable the Board of Governors to consider ADB’s financial statements and net income allocation in line with ADB institutional requirements. The meeting will then be adjourned and reconvened on September 18 to 21, 2020 for a second stage that will comprise a full-scale annual meeting in Incheon, Republic of Korea.
“The safety of annual meeting participants is of utmost importance. Following close consultation with the Government of the Republic of Korea, we agreed the adjusted approach to the meeting is appropriate in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said ADB Secretary Eugenue Zhukov. “Both ADB and the Republic of Korea are fully committed and will work closely toward preparing an engaging and productive Annual Meeting later this year.”
