Asia must tackle poverty,climate change: ADB

Asian Development Bank president said that Asia must do more to cut poverty and take the lead in fighting global warming.

Asia must do more to cut poverty and take the lead in fighting global warming,the Asian Development Bank president said on Monday,as the region emerges

from the economic crisis with more clout on the world stage.

The global turmoil suggests the era of rich Western nations having unlimited appetite for Asia’s exports “has passed,” Haruhiko Kuroda told the bank’s annual meeting in Bali,Indonesia. That puts the onus on the region’s governments to boost their own domestic economies,he said.

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Faced with the worst global slump since World War II,many of Asia’s economies are contracting as demand for their exports – long the engine of the region’s growth – evaporates.

Indonesia’s Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the severity of the downturn is “rivaling the Great

Depression” of the 1930s. Swine flu – which is only confirmed in two cases in Asia so far – is another challenge but the region’s experience with SARS and bird flu means it is “well equipped” to respond,she said.

The financial crisis is an opportunity for Asian nations to restructure their economies to become less export-dependent – “to become not only a major source of goods and services but also a major destination,” Kuroda said.

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The US delegation head,Karen Mathiasen,said such a “profound adjustment” won’t be easily realised but is essential to sustaining an economic recovery.