The Asian Development Bank’s 58th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors opened on 5 May in Milan, Italy, with ADB President Masato Kanda outlining four core areas driving transformative change across Asia and the Pacific.
Nauru’s President and Finance Minister David Adeang, along with Deputy Finance Minister Delvin Thoma, are attending the meeting, which has drawn over 5,000 participants from governments, the private sector, civil society, and academia.
ADB’s first priority is food security. The bank aims to scale up investment to US$40 billion by 2030 to tackle the region’s vulnerable food systems.
Second, it is committing more resources to digital technologies, targeting improved access to education, finance, and markets.
Third, ADB is putting money into energy connectivity, including up to US$10 billion for projects like the ASEAN Power Grid.
The fourth focus is climate resilience—strengthening infrastructure, restoring ecosystems, and helping vulnerable communities adapt to climate change.
Alongside these core goals, ADB reaffirmed plans to quadruple private sector financing to US$13 billion annually by 2030.
For Nauru, the ADB’s development strategy remains centred on long-term, flexible engagement. Priorities include support for maritime transport, renewable energy, urban development, and reforming public sector management, state-owned enterprises, and social protection systems.
On the sidelines of the annual meeting, Deputy Minister Thoma held bilateral talks with Japan’s Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs, Atsushi Mimura. At the top of the agenda is Nauru’s OECD graduation and its implications.
Thoma emphasised Nauru’s extreme vulnerability—ranked as the most vulnerable Pacific island nation and fifth globally—stressing the need for continued international support.
Japan reaffirmed its backing, pledging to maintain technical assistance and grant support through mechanisms like ADB and the Asian Development Fund, even after OECD graduation.
The bilateral also highlighted the importance of digital connectivity, including the ongoing undersea cable project.
