ADB’s Annual Meeting to be held in Sri Lanka this May

The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Annual Meeting will be held in Sri Lanka from May 2 to 5, with the participation of 68 countries.

Simultaneously, plans are afoot to hold several activities, including business conferences. About 5,000 local and foreign representatives are expected to attend these events. 

The Annual Meeting will be held under the theme ‘Positioning Climate Resilient Green Economy for the Post COVID-19 World’.

This was communicated to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa when he met with ADB Vice President Shixin Chen this week, at the Presidential Secretariat. 
The ADB has allocated US $ 786 million for Sri Lanka this year, for implementation of 27 projects.

Chen also assured Rajapaksa of the ADB’s support for Sri Lanka’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sector, for the economic development of the country.  

Chen commended the success of the ongoing projects in Sri Lanka, with the assistance of the ADB. He further said that the ADB is ready to provide funds to restructure several state-owned enterprises.  Rajapaksa said that the government and people of Sri Lanka are grateful for the assistance provided by the ADB to make the vaccination programme a success. 

ADB Senior Advisor Aiming Zhou, Sri Lanka Resident Mission Country Director Chen Chen, Secretary General Muhammad Ehsan Khan, Deputy Country Director Utsav Kumar, Secretary to President P.B. Jayasundera, Finance Secretary S.R. Attygalle, Deputy Secretary to Treasury R.M.P. Rathnayake, External Resources Department Director General Ajith Abeysekera and Chief Executive Officer Dr. D.S. Jayaweera were also 
present.