DENNY'S ADB
Life in the Asian Development Bank.
But, something is different this time. The Asian financial crisis has struck with an impact more devastating than a tropical typhoon. The irrepressible optimism of the people is dampened. All this developmental chaos used to be accepted as the price of progress, but now it is seen as a serious imbalance that must corrected. Everybody is proceeding with guarded optimism, but nobody has a magic formula yet.
Especially at the Asian Development Bank. ADB has traditionally been one of the engines of Asian economic growth. My job is to help American business win more of the some $5 billion in ADB funded developmental projects throughout Asia. I am passionate in the Cause. In the recent past, ADB was concerned mainly with infrastructure development – roads, ports, power plants, gas pipelines, water supply systems, telecommunications, railroads, irrigation systems, electric power transmission systems, etc. I am still active on infrastructure development and might find myself helping American companies make a few hundred million building a coal fired power plant on some pristine beach in Southern China. We are, however, increasingly emphasizing environmental projects and social projects. These days, I might also find myself assisting companies in doing reforestation projects in Indonesia, educational projects in Bangladesh targeted at women, waste water treatment facilities in India, legal training in Vietnam, etc. Great variety of projects.
1997 brought a major new role to ADB - financial sector restructuring and reform. ADB made a $4 billion financial sector loan to Korea alone at the end of 1997. Totally unprecedented. As I write this, the Bank is reviewing its entire three-year planned lending program. Hard decisions will be made. No easy answers are at hand. Especially for Indonesia.
Surprisingly, business on ADB projects has not been greatly effected. I find myself very busy assisting U.S. companies that regard ADB projects as the safe harbor in the storm. I spend most of my time walking the halls of the Bank trying to build my networks and do my deals. As only about 6 percent of ADB's projects are actually in Philippines, I need to travel around the region about a quarter of the time. I have already traveled to Hong Kong, Yunnan, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh and India to get specific information about ADB funded projects for American companies and advocate for them. Traveling in Third World countries is sometimes more exhausting than exotic, but I have found my travels to the most rewarding part of my job. And there is a lot more ahead of me. The Asian Development Bank’s territory is actually much bigger than the "Asia" we normally speak of. It includes South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, & the Maldives), three Central Asian Republics (Kazakstan, Uzbekistan & Kyrgyzstan, and the Pacific Islands as well as East Asia and Southeast Asia.
ADB is a fascinating multinational organization. My colleagues here represent all of ADB's 56 member countries. They are Asia's finest. I feel lucky to be working with them in such interesting times.
-denny
CLICK BACK TO THE BARNES FAMILY HOMEPAGE
