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Monday, 11 February 2019 00:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
MANILA, PHILIPPINES: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD) on Friday agreed to increase their cofinancing commitment from $ 3 billion in the past three years to $ 5 billion in the next three years, allowing them to scale up their joint development efforts in the Asia and Pacific region.
Under the Partnership Framework Agreement (PFA) for 2016–2022 that ADB and AFD signed in October 2016, the two institutions had agreed to each dedicate $ 1.5 billion in cofinancing in the first three years of the six-year agreement. ADB and AFD have now decided to increase the amount to $ 2.5 billion each in the next three years, bringing their combined commitment to $ 5 billion.
Amendment to the PFA, which includes the new cofinancing commitment, was signed by ADB Vice-President for Private Sector and Cofinancing Operations Diwakar Gupta and AFD Deputy Chief Operation Officer Marie-Hélène Loison on the sidelines of the 12th ADB–AFD High-Level Meeting held at ADB headquarters.
“We are excited to deepen our partnership with AFD to scale up our efforts toward the achievement of inclusive and sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific,” said Gupta. “This amendment, which will see ADB and AFD’s combined cofinancing commitment for the next three years increase from $ 3 billion to $ 5 billion, will help strengthen our collaboration in such areas as sustainable cities, urban transport, climate change, and gender mainstreaming.”“This meeting is an opportunity to provide a renewed momentum to our continued partnership,” said Loison. “In line with ADB’s Strategy 2030 and the French Government’s commitment to reach the official development assistance target of 0.55% of GDP by 2022 and its strong support for the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement, the raising of our cofinancing targets will be accompanied by new collaboration to support economic transitions toward low-carbon and climate-resilient sustainable development in the region.”
ADB and AFD have been collaborating since 1997, when they cofinanced their first project. They hold a high-level consultation meeting once a year to share priorities and promote strategic partnership.“AFD is one of ADB’s most important bilateral partners in terms of cofinancing,” said ADB Vice-President Shixin Chen, who led this year’s high-level meeting. “However, our partnership goes beyond cofinancing to encompass technical assistance, knowledge production and sharing, research, and exchanges of staff. We look forward to further strengthening our collaboration in the future.”As part of the two institutions’ renewed cooperation under the PFA, ADB and AFD also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to extend their collaboration in urban transport through the ‘Mobilise Your City’ (MYC) partnership. The MOU was signed by ADB Chief Sector Officer Robert Guild and AFD East Europe, Middle East, and Asia Department Director Rémi Genevey.
The MYC global partnership, launched during COP21 by the governments of France and Germany, aims to recognise the role of urban transport in climate change mitigation, while lending support to local and national initiatives for low-carbon urban mobility. ADB and AFD decided to join hands to expand the MYC partnership through the implementation of an MYC support program aimed at expanding the pipeline of ‘climate-smart’ projects for sustainable urban mobility in Asia.Under the MOU, AFD is mobilising the first tranche of € 5 million ($ 5.7 million) from its grant resources to finance the procurement of consultants for the program. ADB will allocate its staff resources jointly with AFD to monitor MYC activities and to take part in the policy dialogue with counterparts.
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region.
