KYOTO, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The 40th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) curtained up on Friday morning in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto, where finance ministers of ADB member economies, senior government officials, economic and financial experts and representatives of international organizations will discuss a wide range of issues.

    During the four-day meeting at the Kyoto International Conference Center, ADB's Board of Governors, the institution's highest policy-making body, will convene on Sunday and Monday to review the bank's past performance on administrative, financial and operational aspects and approve reform plans and make new strategies and policy guidance to better contribute to the region's growth in coming years.

    Environmental issues are likely to be highlighted at this annual meeting, during which the ADB may try to promote efforts to craft a new global framework aimed at curbing global warming after the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, according to sources.

    Other topics regarding ensuring sustainable economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region, such as market challenges, economic integration, clean energy, private capital flows and poverty alleviation will also be discussed.

    A series of official and sponsored seminars, forums and member economies' presentations will be held during the meeting.

    On the sidelines of the annual event, finance ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN member states as well as China, Japan and South Korea (ASEAN-plus-3) will gather for their 10th meeting on Saturday afternoon to discuss ways to further advance financial cooperation.

    Finance ministers from China, Japan and South Korea will hold their 7th meeting on Friday afternoon to confirm issues to be taken up at the ASEAN-plus-3 meeting and to exchange views on strengthening trilateral cooperation to deal with possible financial risks.

Backgrounder: The Asian Development Bank

    KYOTO, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is holding its 40th annual meeting on Friday through Monday in central Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto to review its operations in the past year and work out guidance for the institution's administrative, financial and operational directions.

    Established in 1966, the ADB is a multilateral development financial institution in the Asia-Pacific region. It now groups 67 members, 48 from the region.

    With its headquarters in Manila, capital of the Philippines, the ADB has 26 other offices around the world, with more than 2,000 staff.

    The regional finance institution's main functions are to extend loans and equity investments to its developing members for their economic and social development, to provide technical assistance for the planning and execution of development projects, and to facilitate investment of public and private capital for development.

    ADB's vision is a region free of poverty. Its mission is to help its developing members reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their citizens. After its adoption of "poverty reduction strategy" in 1999, it began focusing its work toward eliminating poverty in the region.

    ADB's main instruments for providing help to its developing members are policy dialogue, loans, technical assistance, grants, guarantees and equity investments.

    ADB's annual lending volume is typically about 6 billion U.S. dollars, with technical assistance usually totaling about 180 million dollars a year.

    Its Board of Governors, the highest decision-making body comprising one representative from each member, meets annually in a member in late April or early May, with participation of finance and economic planning ministers, senior government officials, representatives of the multilateral development bank community, investment bankers, economic and financial experts and representatives of non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations.

    The ADB president, elected by the Board of Governors, is the chairperson of the Board of Governors. The current president is Haruhito Kuroda from Japan.

    The ADB operations are financed by issuing bonds on the world's capital markets, recycling repayments and receiving contributions from members. Its lending is mainly from Ordinary Capital Resources comprising paid-in capital, reserves, funds raised through borrowings and accumulated retained income. It also has Special Funds which comprise the Asian Development Fund, the Technical Assistance Special Fund and the Japan Special Fund.

    China became the 47th full member of the ADB in 1986.