Mrs. Arroyo and ADB president Tadao Chino witnessed the signing of the Poverty Partnership Agreement at the ADB headquarters in Pasig City. She was also keynote speaker at the ADB Conference on Poverty, Growth and the Role of Institutions.
The agreement was signed by Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo on behalf of the national government and ADB vice president Joseph Eichenberger.
Under the agreement, the ADB will provide the government an annual loan assistance of some $300-$400 million as well as technical assistance worth as much as $9 million between 2002 to 2004.
The bank will set aside 40 percent of this package for projects targeting poverty reduction.
Bank officials also said there will be special focus in the Arroyo administration’s efforts for sustained peace and development and poverty alleviation in Mindanao.
The Philippines has borrowed nearly $8 billion to finance key development projects since ADB opened its headquarters in the country in 1966.
In her address at the ADB-sponsored conference, Mrs. Arroyo expressed gratitude to the bank for funding her administration’s campaign to reduce poverty in the Philippines within this decade.
"I am very grateful this morning that we witnessed the signing of the partnership between the ADB and the Philippine government in fighting poverty," she said. "This partnership has been going on since the ADB was established."
She also thanked the ADB president for a photo display showing her late father, former President Diosdado Macapagal, leading the ceremonial groundbreaking of the first ADB headquarters along Roxas Blvd., Manila.