On May 2-5, the Asian Development Bank will be holding the 49th edition of its annual meeting in Frankfurt, Germany — an event that will also kick off the institution's 50th anniversary celebrations. Let's look at the past annual meetings of the Manila-based institution in this Devex slideshow.

1. ADB AT 50: THE
BANK’S
ANNUAL
MEETINGS
THROUGH THE
YEARS

2. ADB will hold the 49th edition
of its annual meeting on May
2-5 in Frankfurt, Germany,
with over 3,000 development
movers and shakers expected
to participate in the event. The
theme for this year is
“cooperating for
sustainability.”

3. The bank’s annual meeting,
according to its website, is “an
opportunity to provide
guidance on ADB
administrative, financial, and
operational directions.” Nine
presidents — including
incumbent President Takehiko
Nakao — have presided over all
of the annual meetings to date.

4. It also marks the return of the
event on European soil since
the annual meeting in Madrid,
Spain in 2008. Including
Frankfurt, this is the 11th time
the event is held outside of the
Asia-Pacific region.

5. The Frankfurt event also kicks
off the bank’s 50 year
anniversary celebrations amid
the Asia-Pacific region’s
growing donor environment.
Last year, ADB overall
operations amounted to $27.17
billion.

6. The inaugural annual meeting
of the Asian Development
Bank was held at the Tokyo
Prince Hotel in the Japanese
capital on Nov. 24-26, 1966 — a
month before the opening of
the bank’s headquarters in
Manila, Philippines.

7. The Philippine capital Manila,
which also serves as the bank’s
headquarters, is the most
frequent host city of ADB’s
annual meetings, hosting the
event 15 times. The most recent
one was held in 2012 at the
Philippine International
Convention Center.

8. The themes of the last five annual
meetings (excluding Frankfurt) are (1)
Fostering partnership for
development; (2) The Silk Road:
Connecting Asia with the changing
world; (3) Development through
empowerment; (4) Inclusive growth
through better governance and
partnerships; and (5) Regional
integration, middle-income countries,
climate change and finance.

9. Next year’s annual meeting,
the 50th edition, is expected
to be held in Yokohama,
Japan.