ADB chief: Nice to see a sense of cooperation among G20 leaders

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) played a strong role at the G20 summit this year, while ADB President Takehiko Nakao spoke highly of the gathering of G20 leaders. Nakaoregarded the G20 as a good opportunity for leaders to take in a "candid manner," and he is happy to see "a sense of cooperation and friendship among all of the leaders.""Surprising thing is that leaders are talking very reasonably in a very broad way. And it's very nice to see there is a sense of cooperation and friendship among all of the leaders," he told CGTN.Based on his observation, there were lots of discussions at the G20, covering climate change, trade imbalances and other issues. "There are many difficult issues in the countries, and each country has different priorities, but it's very nice to have meetings of leaders," he said.

Nakao on China-U.S. trade talks

China and U.S. agreed to jointly promote bilateral relations based on coordination, cooperation and stability in accordance with the principles and directions set by the two leaders. Nakao considered the restart of discussion as a good sign, "because the dispute between the two major economies in the world is not positive to the global economy.""There are many elements in the trade dispute, including the interest of intellectual property rights and security issues. I don't know whether the discussion will go over smoother in coming years, but I think the spirit of cooperation is there. To the interest of the regional economy, Asian economy and also global economy, I hope discussion between China and U.S. will go well," Nakao commented.

Nakao on Asian economy

Asian finance ministers were more upbeat about the economy than their global counterparts, the president told CGTN at the ADB annual meeting earlier this year. Nakao maintained the same opinion this time, saying that emerging economies, including India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and China, are growing well."Vietnam is now entering the growth rate of more than 7 percent. Thailand has a solid growth. And India is also growing very well," he explained with examples, and kept the same forecast that economic growth in Asia would continue at the pace of six percent."If you do six percent in 12 years into a double, is it a really slow growth? If Asia can continue to grow at the pace of six percent, can we really be so pessimistic about the future [of the] global economy?" he replied.

Moreover, ADB chief believed that national interests and multilateralism can go hand in hand. "Each country has a national interest. But to achieve the goal of supporting the people of the country, they need cooperation between countries," Nakao explained.

Nakao on supporting private sector

ADB will open an office in Singapore to support the expansion of its private sector operations. An agreement establishing the new office was signed on the sidelines of the G20 Summit by ADB President Takehiko Nakao and Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat. Meanwhile, ADB signed a deal with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) recently about bringing more private investment into emerging economies. The ADB chief highlighted the importance of the private sector’s mobilization. He stated that the new office in Singapore, which is lending to private companies and increasing investment without guarantee of the government, would facilitate ADB’s private sector operation.

(CGTN)