A ceremony to mark the 50-year long standing partnership with Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be held at the Independence Square, Colombo 7 on February 6 at 3.30 pm with the issuance of a commemorative stamp and the first day cover.
The chief guest will be Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake and the guest of honour Director General, South Asia Regional Dept (SARD) of the ADB, Hun Kim.
They will open a photographic exhibition depicting the assistance granted to Sri Lanka in the past 50 years by the ADB in the fields of power and energy, roads and transport, education and skills development, irrigation, water supply and sanitation. Regional development, public sector and finance are among the many sectors that benefitted from the financial and technical assistance from the ADB. This exhibition will be open for the public on February 7 and 8.This exhibition will also be held in Galle on March 15, 16 and 17.
Headquartered in Manila, the ADB is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.The ADB has 67 member countries of which 48 are from the region.
Some of the flagship projects of ADB in Sri Lanka include the Southern Expressway, expansion of the Colombo port, and the upgraded Udatenna–Mahiyangana road.
Sri Lanka is one of the founding developing member countries of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which was established in 1966.
With its first loan to the country in 1968 to help modernize tea factories, ADB progressed to fund projects in a variety of sectors according to the needs of the country and in keeping with the development policies of the governments of the day. Since the initial years, ADB has cumulatively lent $8.2 billion and provided more than $363 million in grant assistance and more than $138 million in technical assistance to the country.
