Haruhiko Kuroda, Japan’s former vice-minister of finance for international affairs, has been unanimously voted in. Kuroda will take over as ADB president on February 1, succeeding Tadao Chino, who announced his resignation in August (see GTR, Nov/Dec, p4).
Kuroda is currently special advisor to the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and a professor at the graduate school of economics at Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo.
In a career spanning nearly four decades, Kuroda has represented Japan’s ministry of finance at a number of international monetary conferences as vice-minister of finance for international affairs.
“I am determined that the bank should remain flexible in its approach to the many challenges facing its developing member countries,” says Kuroda.
“ADB must also continue to strive for greater effectiveness in its operations.”
During his terms as director-general of the international bureau and as vice-minister of finance between 1997 and 2003, Kuroda helped design and implement the US$30bn Miyazawa Initiative – Japan’s response to Asian economies hit by the 1997-98 financial crisis.

Under his leadership, Japan helped Asian nations establish a network of currency swap agreements, the so-called Chiang Mai Initiative, to avert another crisis.