The Asian Development Bank (ADB) aims to improve the welfare of the people in Asia and the Pacific, particularly the 1.9 billion who live on less than US$ 2 a day. C. Lawrence Greenwood Jr. has served as Vice President since December 2005.
Lawrence is the Vice-President for Operations 2, with responsibility for the ADB’s East and Central Asia Department, Southeast Asia Department, Pacific Department and Central Operations Services Office. His regional area includes some of the Asiatic countries that are economically expanding most rapidly. Economic expansion has resulted in a shift in the way the ADB structures loans. ?The perspective of our support to our clients has expanded in recent years not only in terms of current challenges but also the need to ensure consistency, complimentarity, and greater alignment with the Government. We need to work together to maximize private sector role and potentials, to provide increased opportunities for private sector investment,? Lawrence explained.
One of the countries in Lawrence?s region is the economic express, China. The ADB?s operations in the area include the development of new modes and mechanisms to partner civil society and government organizations in national poverty reduction efforts. Governance and citizen participation is a key element of the ADB?s strategy in the region. Lawrence asserted, ?Within Asia and beyond, the experience of diverse countries demonstrates that NGO-government partnerships can provide a ?win-win? outcome, bringing to bear each partner?s strengths.?
A US citizen, Lawrence was a career diplomat for nearly 30 years. His diplomatic work included extensive experience in Asia, including postings at the US embassies in Singapore, Japan, and Philippines, as well as working in the US Department of State. He gained a BA in East Asian Studies from Eckerd College in Florida, and an MA - MALD in Economics, Law and Asian Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts.
In the future, the ADB will focus on meeting the Millennium Development Goals through private sector growth. ?ADB will continue to strongly support the government in further reduction of poverty, develop avenues for business-driven and inclusive growth, strengthen governance, address environmental issues and develop human resources,? Lawrence said. He finally added, ?Better targeted, innovative, and new approaches are needed to address remaining absolute poverty which increasingly is concentrated in remote areas, ethnic minority communities, and other hard-to-reach groups as well as the vulnerability of a much larger population living at the brink of poverty.?
