Paulson pressed on ADB funding rules
10 March 2008
Representatives of the U.S. Senate judiciary and House financial services committees, urge Hank Paulson, the U.S. Treasury secretary, to demand that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) stick to tougher environmental and social criteria.
The Financial Times reported yesterday that Senator Patrick Leahy and Congressman Barney Frank, the respective chairmen of the U.S. Senate judiciary and House financial services committees, have written to U.S. Treasury secretary, Hank Paulson urging him to demand that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) stick to tougher environmental and social criteria for approving project financing than what is currently foreseen in its planned policy overhaul.
The joint letter was sent a week before donors meet to negotiate the replenishment of the Asian Development Fund. It also comes on the heels of other criticism the ADB has recently received from donors, including the U.S. and the U.K. regarding its staffing and project oversight procedures.
Leahy's and Frank's letter states that "[U.S.] participation in the Asian development fund’s replenishment should hinge, in part, on a successful outcome of the safeguard policy update”.
Sources
Paulson pressed on ADB funding rules, by Raphael Minder, March 9, 2008. (Financial Times website)
Donor demand overhaul at the ADB, Bank Information Center (BIC website)
Resources
BIC's webpage on the ADB safeguard policy update (BIC website)