ADB begins annual meeting amid rising fuel price concerns

HANOI: Rising commodity and fuel prices along with their impact on the global economy are expected to figure in the four-day Asian Development Bank's ( ADB) annual meet attended by world leaders including Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and her Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda will also participate in the meeting that will involve about 4,000 guests from various countries, comprising government heads and officials, experts, the private sector, academia, media and civil society.

The ADB will be organising a seminar on "Asia 2050: Pursuit of growth, sustainability and well being" tomorrow during which Mukherjee will be a key speaker.

This seminar will discuss the initial findings of the "Asia 2050" study and focus on some of the key issues like sustaining rapid growth, demographic challenges and food security.

The bank will present the initial findings of its upcoming report, Asia 2050 - Realizing the Asian Century, which looks at the demographic, social, environmental, and economic challenges ahead and what the region must do to secure a prosperous future 40 years from now.

The ADB conference is being held at a time when inflation has become a major issue in the Asian region.

Global recovery is expected to sustain in 2011 even as it is projected to moderate marginally from its 2010 pace due to phasing out of the fiscal stimulus, and high oil and other commodity prices.

According to an ADB report, rising prices are hurting 2 billion people who are living on less than USD 2 a day, thereby, complicating economic and monetary policy.

Moreover, floods and earthquakes in the region have added to the pressure.

The other important issues that is being deliberated at the conference are environmental degradation and climate change, growing and ageing population and global economic rebalancing.