Reply #22: Meet the Man Who Is Bringing Asia Together

[54anickel]

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&refer=columnist_pesek&sid=aRHJe.VMqtFI

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The next time you think your job is impossible, think of Haruhiko Kuroda.

The soft-spoken 61-year-old runs the Asian Development Bank, which may not seem like a huge deal to investors. After all, it's not the International Monetary Fund or even the World Bank. Based in the Philippines, the ADB is known for making loans to countries like Cambodia, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea.

Less known is the ADB's key role in accelerating development and reducing poverty in China and India. When you consider that investors and executives are pinning their hopes for prosperity on those two nations, the ADB's importance comes into sharper focus.

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``Countries working together can do much more than they can alone,'' Kuroda said in Tokyo last week. ``They can create more growth, solve more problems, attract more investment, jobs and opportunities and consolidate the significant gains of recent decades.''

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One immediate goal is creating an Asian entity resembling the Group of Seven industrialized nations. Such a grouping of finance ministers and central bankers ``will be extremely useful and will promote regional currency and financial stability,'' Kuroda said.

After all, what has the G-7 done for Asia lately? And does the G-7 really matter anymore? You'll be excused for not realizing the group -- along with Russian policy makers -- met in Moscow on Feb. 11, an event that barely registered with markets. The reason: The G-7 holds zero sway over economies that are doing the most to influence financial trends.

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