The 1997 Asian financial crisis hit the region and became a defining moment for Asia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). As ADB participated in coordinated crisis responses, Asian policy makers used this opportunity to reassess their economic policies in a fundamental way. This volume presents how ADB met the challenges during the fourth decade of designing strategies to respond to rapid changes in the region following the Asian financial crisis, and responding to the changes in international development thinking. Several important policies and strategies were approved, including ADB's Poverty Reduction Strategy as well as ADB's first Long-Term Strategic Framework to 2015. ADB embarked on two major reorganizations (in 2002 and 2006) and committed to an internal reform agenda to be a more responsive, relevant, and results-oriented organization. ADB also took a proactive role in postconflict reconstruction in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, and Timor-Leste. ADB also needed to respond to a series of external shocks such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic in 2003, the Asian tsunami in 2004, and the Pakistan earthquake in 2005.

The Asia and Pacific region continued to grow despite a difficult external global environment. The developing member countries demonstrated considerable resilience, following the second oil shock and the international debt crisis that followed. This volume shows how the Asian Development Bank (ADB) responded to the growing diversity among its developing member countries as both membership and operations widened during decade. Considerations about ADB’s priorities were ongoing and ranged across many topics. To support these discussions as well as to provide information for policy makers across the region, ADB sought to position itself as a "regional resource center" with a broader development role of providing not only financial assistance but becoming a center of new thinking on development issues in the region as well. ADB moved closer to the ground by opening its first Resident Office in Bangladesh in 1982. New products were introduced---program lending, sector lending, direct lending to private sector without government guarantees, and equity investment---to meet changing needs and expectations of countries. As the decade closed, two key historical landmarks occurred: ADB made its first loan to India, and the People's Republic of China became a member after long and detailed negotiations.