The KDI School invited Dr. Bindu N. Lohani, the Vice President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development of the Asia Development Bank to conduct a special lecture titled the Asia 2020: Sustainable Development and Knowledge Management – Challenges and Opportunities in Asia and the Pacific Region.

The ADB, being dedicated to improving people’s lives in Asia and the Pacific through extensive assistance projects, has a direct relation to the missions of the KDI School, and as such many interested students attended the lecture, eager to further their knowledge.

Dr. Lohani’s lecture detailed the efforts and measures to ensure sustainable development in the Asian region, which he described in four parts: Asia 2050 – Realizing the Asian Century; ADB and its Long-Term Strategic Framework, 2008-2020; ADB and its Development Assistance for Asia and the Pacific; and Knowledge Management: Knowledge Economy and Knowledge Institutions.

His lecture not only included the challenges and the tasks facing the Asian nations to realize the “Asian Century,” but also ADB’s long term plans to achieve that vision in an ultimate goal of Asia and Pacific region that is free of poverty. The plan revolves around three pivotal strategic agendas, that of inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration - agendas closely mirroring the curriculum taught at the KDI School.