OREANDA-NEWS. About 3,000 government officials, business leaders, academics, journalists, and representatives from civil society and development organizations started arriving today at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s 48th Annual Meeting of its Board of Governors.

Under the theme “Fostering Partnership for Development,” this year’s meeting—taking place for the first time in the South Caucasus region—will highlight the importance of leveraging resources and strengthening collaboration between ADB, its members and other multilateral and bilateral partners. It will also update shareholders on progress made toward implementing the Midterm Review of Strategy 2020, as well as plans to enhance ADB’s lending capacity.

The 2015 Governors’ Seminar, entitled “Rethinking Growth Potential and Growth Models,” will discuss Asia’s future economic models, how to prepare the region to meet these new challenges and opportunities, and how to design appropriate policy packages to maximize growth potential.

Delegates will discuss a broad range of topics relevant to ADB’s mandate in a crucial year for development. Before the Millennium Development Goals expire on 31 December, 2015, world leaders are expected to reach global agreements on the new post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, climate change, financing for development, and disaster risk resilience. As the world’s largest and fastest growing region, Asia has a major role to play in this agenda.

Financing these global agreements, though, will be a huge challenge. The meeting in Baku is an opportunity for stakeholders to explore possible solutions, and discuss how the resources of ADB and its partners can best be utilized to help meet the cost.

This year, the International Monetary Fund will again co-host a panel on financial sector development, while private infrastructure funding will be the focus of a joint seminar with the World Economic Forum, and international broadcaster CNBC will moderate a TV debate about Asia’s economic outlook for the second year in a row.

Other conferences will tackle issues such as how to make Asian cities more livable and resilient to climate change, regional economic cooperation in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, and Islamic finance.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members – 48 from the region.  In 2014, ADB assistance totaled \$22.9 billion, including cofinancing of \$9.2 billion.