The Asian Development Bank is an international development finance institution established for the purpose of lending funds, promoting investment and providing technical assistance to developing member countries, and generally in the Asian region. Since its inauguration in 1966 and from the original membership of 31 countries it has increased to 40 in 1973.
The Bank has two important features. First, it is an Asian Bank conceived by the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE): it is located in the ECAFE region; about 60 per cent of its capital is subscribed by the regional member countries; the President and eight of the 12 Directors come from the region. Secondly, unlike certain regional financial institutions, the membership of the Bank extends beyond the region: countries outside Asia have contributed to the Bank's capital and are represented on the Boards of Directors and professional staff of the Bank.
The organizational structure of the Bank consists of the Boards of Governors, which is the highest policy making body. The responsibility for the general policy direction of the operations of the Bank rests with the Board of Directors. The Board consists of 12 Directors; 8 representing regional member countries and 4 representing non-regional members. The President under the direction of the Board of Directors of which he is the Chairman, is responsible for the organization and operation of the Bank.
Each member of the Bank is represented on the Board of Governors by a Governor and an Alternate Governor. Normally the Governor is either the Minister of Finance or Governor of the Central Bank of the member country. The Hon'ble Tun Tan Siew Sin, Minister of Finance is the Governor of the Asian Development Bank for Malaysia and the Hon'ble Datuk Mohamad Rahmat the deputy Minister of Finance is the Alternate Governor. The Board of Governors as the highest policy making body of the Bank meets at least once annually.
Malaysia is for the first time playing host for the 7th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors to be held at Kuala Lumpur Hilton from the 25th April until 27th April 1974. About 300 official participants are expected to attend the meeting. In addition between 200 and 250 private Bankers and from 100 to 125 members of the press (both local and overseas) are likely to attend.
The meeting will be opened by the Hon'ble Tun Haji Abdul Razak bin Hussein the Prime Minister of Malaysia on Thursday, 25th April, 1974 at Nirwana Ballroom, Kuala Lumpur Hilton.
The relationship between Malaysia and the Bank has been extremely cordial and mutually beneficial. As an international financial institution established principally for economic development in the developing Asian region, the Bank has been very cooperative in considering loans to Malaysia for various development projects. The aggregate amount of loan so far financed by the Bank to Malaysia is approximately US$150 million covering 17 projects ranging from water supply, power, highway, agriculture, port and airport.
Technical Details
Commemorative postage stamps of the 30 cts. and 75 cts. denominations will be issued on the 25th April, 1974, to mark the 7th annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank in Kuala Lumpur. Details of the stamps are as follows:
Size: Horizontal format with the following dimensions perforation to perforation in sheets of 100 stamps:
Vertical - 27 mm
Horizontal - 42.5 mm
Designs: The basic design is common to both denominations and features the emblem of the Asian Development Bank; a composite drawing depicting development projects; the word 'Malaysia' in blue, the denomination in red and the lettering in black.
Colour: Multicolour, with a grey background for the 30 cts. and buff background for the 75 cts.
Artist: Final artwork by Malaysian Advertising Services, Kuala Lumpur
Printing Process: Lithography
Paper: Unwatermarked white paper
Printer: Messrs Bruder Rosenbaum Printers, Vienna, Austria
Period of sale: Until stocks are exhausted
First Day Cover
