The 41^st Annual Governors Meeting (AGM) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is taking place in Madrid, Spain from May 3 to 6, 2008.  One of the main agenda of this meeting is the ADB’s strategy for the next years for what it describes as a ‘New Asia.’  The ADB calls it “Strategy 2020” and is contained in the paper called the “Long Term Strategic Framework (LTSF).”

According to ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda, this new strategy “reshapes, redirects, repositions ADB for a more innovative and effective development role in our rapidly changing region and within the international aid architecture.”

For forty years we have been witness to ADB’s support for the private sector and advocacy of free market policies, and the consequent harmful impacts on services, livelihoods, food security and the environment. 

It has been a major driver of privatization of services in the region, along with the World Bank. It has been involved in the privatization of water services in Indonesia, India, Pakistan, South Korea, Nepal and Srilanka.  It financed power privatization-related projects in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, India and others.

The privatization of these services has led to huge and continuous increases in rates, much diminished access of poor households and communities to these services, the monopoly of natural resources by private businesses, massive dislocations of communities, and environmental damage.

ADB has also actively provided support for private (as well as public) investments in fossil-fuel projects particularly coal, thus contributing to harmful and climate change-causing technologies.

In facilitating private investment in public infrastructure programs, it has supported and promoted public guarantees of private risks, liabilities and profits in these investments.

ADB’s drive for privatization not only contributed to increasing the burden of public debts, it has led to the further accumulation of illegitimate debts. Illegitimate debts include ADB loans that financed projects and policies that have caused grievous harm to communities and the environment.

With its Strategy 2020 and LTSF — the ADB will be much, much more unabashed and aggressive in its support for the private sector.

Arguing yet again that “economic growth has been the driving force for reducing poverty in the region, the new strategy calls for a big leap in its funding for private sector development and private sector operations.  From 12% in 2007, by the year 2020 50% of its operations will be for the private sector.   

We can only expect that ADB greater support for ‘stronger private sector involvement in development’ would mean subjecting Asia to even more relentless pursuit of unregulated risk-free and publicly- guaranteed profits by big business.

We say to the ADB – Our future, our rights are not for sale!

Signatories:

Campaign Network on the Peoples Right to Essential Services and Natural Resources

Jubilee South – Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development

Jubilee South-Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development recently held a Regional Course on Debt and Debt Audit training – 45 participants from ten organizations in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia and the Philippines.

This course training has long been planned with the following objectives in mind – 1) capacity-building in undertaking campaigns on debt & global finance and illegitimate debt 2) promoting debt audit 3) exchanging ideas on strategies; and 4)promoting cooperation among south campaigns

It was an 8 –Day Course that began with a presentation on the historical context of the debt and covered topics related to debt, public finance and global capital. The second part involved presentations and discussions on the global debt movement and the campaign on illegitimate debt. Lidy Nacpil was the main resource person, with several inputs from participants on country information and updates. They were also asked to present case studies on illegitimate debt. Other speakers include Leonor Briones, former National Treasurer of the Republic of the Philippines, Atty. Harry Roque who discussed legal issues on debt transactions and loan contracts, Titi Soentoro, from Indonesia, on ECAs, and Hemantha Withanage from the NGO Forum on the ADB and Red Constantino on Debt, IFIs & Climate Change.

The participants spent one afternoon in country workshops to exercise planning for citizens audit. The 3 organizations from Bangladesh expressed resolve to take a more active role in popularizing the issue of illegitimate debt, especially in international events and during meetings of international financial institutions. They also plan to hold gatherings to explore partnerships with other organizations to conduct a debt audit. Indonesian organizations will organize a national summit to promote the idea of pushing for debt audit. In Cambodia, the immediate task will be to popularize the issue and encourage more organizations to take on a campaign.

Participating groups in the Philippines shared about the ongoing Debt Audit campaign and also a report on the gains and lessons from the campaign efforts to push the previous Congress to conduct a joint debt audit process. Freedom from Debt Coalition and other organizations working on debt have renewed campaign efforts to push an Official Debt Audit and have gone further in terms of pushing for a Citizens Debt Audit.