ADB Annual Meeting Postponed to 2023... September Incheon Meeting to be Replaced by Video Conference

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on the 13th that the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), originally scheduled to be held in Incheon from September 18 to 21 this year, will be replaced by a virtual meeting hosted by the ADB headquarters, and the Incheon meeting will be postponed to 2023.

Even though the September meeting will be conducted as a virtual meeting hosted by the ADB headquarters, Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki will preside over the Governors' Meeting as the current chair.

This decision was made based on the judgment that it is necessary to prioritize the safety of domestic and international participants and the public due to the ongoing global spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

Consideration was also given to the difficulty of holding an effective annual meeting due to travel restrictions by various countries and the reduction of event scale for quarantine purposes.

Since the end of last month, the Ministry of Economy and Finance has officially requested the ADB to postpone the annual meeting after prior consultations with the ADB and coordination with related ministries, and the ADB Board of Directors made a decision at 6 p.m. local time in Manila on the same day.

However, the hosting of the 56th Annual Meeting in Incheon in 2023 by Korea requires approval from the member countries' governors for the Board's decision, and it is expected to be finalized at the Governors' Meeting in September.

Heo Jang, Director General of International Economic Management, said, "Considering that no country has expressed an intention to host the 2023 meeting so far and past cases of postponing annual meetings, Korea's postponed hosting in 2023 should not be difficult," and added, "During this September's meeting, we plan to actively share Korea's quarantine and economic policy experiences by attending virtual seminars to help developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region respond to COVID-19."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.