The Asian Development Bank has a new president.
In a statement released Friday, the ADB said its board of governors, composed of representatives from member-countries, had elected Takehiko Nakao as the new president of the development institution.
Nakao will assume office on April 28 and will finish the unexpired term of former ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda until Nov. 23, 2016. Kuroda resigned last month to head the central bank of Japan.
Nakao is former vice minister of finance for international affairs of Japan. He held several other senior positions over a span of three decades in the Ministry of Finance.
He also taught international finance at the University of Tokyo in 2010 and 2011 as a visiting professor.
Nakao holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Tokyo and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley.
“His extensive experience in international finance and development and broad and deep knowledge of the Asian region will serve ADB well in pursuing its vision of an Asia-Pacific region free of poverty,” said Palaniappan Chidambaram, chair of the ADB board of governors and Finance Minister of India.
Nakao is expected to deliver on the task of leading the ADB in attaining its goal of helping substantially trim poverty in Asia, which remains home to about two-thirds of the world’s poor people despite robust growth rates posted by member-countries.