ADB postpones meeting in S. Korea amid coronavirus fears

The Asian Development Bank’s upcoming annual meeting, originally slated to be held here in May, will be postponed to September in light of the coronavirus spread, according to ADB and the South Korean government.

“As COVID-19 continues to spread around the globe, (ADB and Korea) have agreed to postpone the 53rd ADB Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors from the originally planned May 2-5 to Sept. 18-21,” the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a release.

“We preferred to postpone the event, instead of canceling it altogether, considering the need to provide support to local companies’ outbound business expansion and to revitalize the economy which has received heavy blows from the COVID-19 outbreak,”

The venue will still be Songdo Convensia in Incheon, and the contents of the event will remain unchanged, it added.

In light of the altered timeline, priority financial agendas will be handled within the first half of the year via a fast-track process in Philippines’ Manila -- where the organization is headquartered. The extraordinary process will take place under the presence of the permanent executive directors only, without inviting governors from each member state. Other agendas, governance seminars and ministerial meetings will be held during the September main event.

“The postponing decision was based on the judgment that the safety of participants should be prioritized and that member states should at this point time focus all capacities on preventing the spread of COVID-19,” the ministry said.

“Also, due to the rampant travel bans and the persisting concerns on mass infections during indoors gatherings, early May seemed an unlikely timing for an effective annual meeting.”

The ADB annual meeting was anticipated to involve some 1,700 people at its opening ceremony and over 500 people during the governors’ meeting, according to officials.

Observing a soaring number of confirmed cases from mid-February, Korea has held a series of discussions with ADB counterparts since late February and finally made its official request on March 13 that the annual meeting needs to be postponed.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)