JEJU, South Korea, May 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will hold its 37th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors on May 15-17 at Juju, South Korea's scenic southern island, to review its operations in the past year and work out future strategies.

    Established in 1966, the ADB is a multilateral development finance institution dedicated to reducing poverty in the Asia-Pacific region. It now groups 63 members, 45 from the region.

    Its Board of Governors, comprising one representative from eachmember, meets annually. It elects a 12-member Board of Directors. The ADB president, elected by the Board and Governors, is the chairperson of the Board of Directors. The current president is Tadao Chino.

    With the headquarters in Manila, capital of the Philippines, the ADB has 24 other offices around the world, with a total employment of more than 2,000 from nearly 50 countries.

    The regional finance institution's main functions are to extendloans and equity investments to its developing members for their economic and social development, and provide technical assistance for the planning and execution of development projects and programs and for advisory services. It also promotes and facilitates investment of public and private capital for development.

    The bank focuses its development work on the improvement of thewelfare of the people in the region. After its adoption of "poverty reduction strategy" in 1999, it began focusing its work toward eliminating poverty in the region.

    Following such a policy, it gives priorities in its assistance to projects and programs with economic growth, human development, gender and development, good governance, environmental protection,private sector development and regional cooperation.

    Traditionally, agriculture and rural development have received the most ADB support. But in recent years, the social infrastructure sector, such as health, education and water supply,has shared the institution's priorities.

    In 2003, the bank approved loans totaling 6.1 billion US dollars and technical assistance of 177 million US dollars.

    The ADB operations are financed by issuing bonds on the world'scapital markets, recycling repayments and receiving contributions from members. Nearly 75 percent of ADB's lending is 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. Enditem