The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has named Safdar Parvez as Country Director for the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Parvez arrived in Beijing after his appointment last month. As Country Director, he will oversee ADB’s operations in China, including the implementation of the country partnership strategy (CPS) that prioritizes high-quality and sustainable green development.
The current CPS is essential to reorient ADB’s engagement in China as an upper-middle-income country.
“I am very honored to lead the office in the People’s Republic of China, where I look forward to strengthening ADB’s longstanding partnership with the government and other major stakeholders,” said Parvez.
“ADB will continue the effective work it has been doing with the PRC as a major actor to ensure environmentally sustainable development and climate change adaptation and mitigation.”
He also added that “we will work together in the search for solutions for health security and support for an aging society. We will also try to expand our support for institutional development, knowledge management and the development of the private sector.”
“More importantly, we will facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practices between the PRC and ADB developing country members to support replicable development models.”
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Parvez has more than 26 years of professional experience, more than 20 of them at ADB.
He joined ADB in 2002 and has held senior positions including Director of Regional Cooperation and Operations Coordination in West and Central Asia and East Asia Advisor. He has been a key leader in a number of reforms and corporate strategy initiatives at the ADB.
ADB has been working with China since 1986. To date, ADB has committed 1,160 loans, grants and technical assistance to the public sector totaling $41.3 billion.
ADB’s green development work includes projects in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to boost sustainable financing of renewable energy, clean transportation, industrial energy efficiency and refrigeration modernization.
A Pakistani national, Parvez holds two master’s degrees in economics: one from the University of Cambridge, UK, and another from Quaid-e-Azam University, Pakistan; and a BA in Economics from Government College, Pakistan. Prior to joining ADB, Parvez was Director of Program Policy at the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme.
