New ADB Country Head keen to support Govt. development agenda

Tuesday, 22 April 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has appointed Sri Widowati as the new Country Director for its Sri Lanka Resident Mission. “Sri Lanka, a middle-income country, is an important client for ADB. I’m looking forward to continuing our partnership in supporting the government’s development agenda,” Widowati said. Sri Widowati succeeds Rita O’Sullivan who returned to ADB’s headquarters in Manila, Philippines. Widowati is expected to assume her new position on 25 April. Sri Lanka has been a member country of ADB since 1966. Since then, ADB has provided Sri Lanka with $ 6.04 billion in loans and grants, including $ 363 million in 2013 alone. ADB’s priority areas for support in the country are transport, energy, urban development (water supply and sanitation) and Education. Widowati, an Indonesian national, joined ADB in 1998, and has worked in the South Asia and Mekong regions since then, overseeing projects in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Lao PDR, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, primarily in the transport sector. Directly prior to this assignment, Widowati was the Director of the Transport and Communications Division of the South Asia Department, a post she has held since 2009. She was Head of the Project Administration Unit in the same division from 2006 – 2009, and Senior Project Specialist /Project Engineer, from 1998 – 2006. Widowati holds a Master’s Degree in City Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia, USA; and a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. 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.