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2010 Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Governors The Forty-third Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank was held on 1–4 May 2010 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. 24th Annual General Meeting of AFE–ADB and Related Functions The Annual General Meeting of AFE–ADB and related functions were held on Saturday, 1 May 2010. The Country Coordinators Meeting featured good discussions. The 24th Annual General Meeting was brief, with reports read and questions answered. And the Cocktail Reception at the Sinbad Restaurant was greatly enjoyed by all. Minutes of the meeting follow. |
AFE–ADB 24th Annual General Meeting
International Trade Center Tashkent 1 May 2010
Minutes
David Parker, Hans-Juergen Springer, Bong-Suh Lee, and Jill Gale de Villa.
AFE President Bong-Suh Lee called the meeting to order at 2:15 p.m. and welcomed members present. The meeting agenda was adopted, and a moment of silence was held for members who died during 2009/2010.
AFE President’s Address. B-S Lee thanked the host government for inviting ADB and the Association to hold the annual meetings in the land where Tamerlane the Great ruled 600 years ago, and he expressed the hope that members would find time to visit the cities along the Silk Road. He also referred to the passing of two distinguished members in 2009/2010, M. Ikramullah Khan and Kimimasa Tarumizu. B-S Lee then listed several of AFE’s achievements during the past year: members’ assistance to the flood victims of typhoon Ondoy in the Philippines, the opening of the AFE website to the public, and the new AFE logo.
Minutes of the 23rd Annual General Meeting in Bali were approved.
Executive Secretary’s Report. HJ Springer provided a few statistics: membership had increased to 2,406 as of the end of March 2010, 55% are pensioners, 60% are former professional staff, 56% of staff leaving ADB became AFE members in 2009, and AFE has 12 active chapters around the globe.
2009/2010 under Review. The AFE secretariat had focused on five major activities: assistance to victims of typhoon Ondoy, launch of AFE’s website, the meeting of retiree associations of international organizations, preparation of the Handbook for Survivors, and participation in ADB’s retirement seminars.
ADB local staff and Filipino AFE members were severely affected by unprecedented floods in and around Metro Manila at the end of September 2009. HJ Springer thanked AFE members who contributed generously and the Philippine chapter, which worked tirelessly. As a result, assistance was given to AFE members and poor Filipino communities.
HJ Springer announced that AFE’s website was now open to all members and the public. He reiterated that in addition to the AFE website, ADB’s Alumni website was an important source of information on pensions and medical insurance for members.
The first one-day meeting of retiree associations of seven international organizations organized by the World Bank’s 1818 Society in September 2009 and attended by several AFE members was a useful first step to exchange information on issues of governance, pensions, medical insurance, and other matters such as communication. Not surprisingly, issues discussed and concerns expressed at the meeting were similar among all participants.
The preparation and dispatch in electronic form and in hard copy of the Handbook for Survivors was very well received by AFE members. Thanks were expressed to Jill Gale de Villa and Lou de Belen, who worked hard on this project.
Upon AFE’s request, in February 2010 AFE was for the first time included in the agenda of the seminars for prospective ADB retirees. JG de Villa made a PowerPoint presentation providing an overview of AFE and its organization, purpose, and activities. This is considered important to raise AFE’s profile.
Outlook for 2010/2011. A major center of activity in AFE’s work program will be to organize the 25th anniversary celebration of the Association. Stephen Banta has agreed to chair a committee to plan the event.
As AFE’s membership has grown and so has its operational breadth, a review of AFE’s by-laws is considered timely to ascertain an appropriate organizational structure for the Association. A committee will be established to carry out the task.
Work is under way to issue an updated membership directory. A password-protected electronic version will also be made available on AFE’s website.
Pension and Health. As the pensioners’ representative on the Pension Committee, HJ Springer attended the Committee’s two meetings in July and December last year. AFE had requested having an alternate for the pensioners’ representative, as is the case for both the elected staff representatives and the Board representatives. A detailed report on pension matters is given on p. 28 of AFE-ADB News Vol. 37.
There has been no premium increase for the medical insurance since 2006, but the claims situation has worsened, as large cases will affect the 2010 claims picture. JG de Villa’s report on medical insurance is detailed on p. 29 of AFE-ADB News Vol. 37.
Financial Matters. ADB engaged a new external auditor, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, which also required a change in AFE’s external auditor, as AFE traditionally hires the local affiliate of ADB’s auditor. Manabat Delgado Amper & Co., the local auditing firm, again gave AFE a clean bill of financial health. As can be seen from David Parker’s report on p. 22, AFE’s net income shrank sharply due to increased administrative and general expenses, a situation likely to prevail in future years.
Other Business. Ramdass Keswani brought up the issue of pension currency risk as a result of local currency strengthening vis-à-vis the US dollar. He handed the India chapter’s paper to the executive secretary, in which ADB is being requested to permit a switch of the disbursement currency of pensions. Francis Narayan inquired how the Staff Retirement Plan is guaranteed under extreme conditions and what steps ADB would take to overcome the present substantial underfunding. Peter Carroll noted that a golf trophy had been purchased by AFE and inquired what plans were being made to use it. He suggested that it could be awarded in a golf tournament at AFE’s 25th anniversary. President Bong-Suh Lee offered to donate another trophy in case there was need.
Adjournment. There being no further business, President Lee adjourned the meeting at 3:30 p.m.
In this photo (Front, L–R): V.V. Desai, Colin Pratt, Jayanta Madhab, Peter Carroll, Günter Hecker, and Naseer and Muntaza Ahmad. (Behind; partial list): Wolf Preuss, Paul Yeung, Cesar Juan, Lita Gamboa, Francis Narayan, Tilak Sen, and Ramdass Keswani.