MANILA - The Asian Development Bank said yesterday it has named former US Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers and senior Sony Corp. adviser Noboyuki Idei to a panel to help it plan its long-term strategy.

A six-member panel will begin work over the next two months and be led by former World Trade Organization secretary-general Supachai Panitchpakdi.

Its final report and recommendations would be presented to member countries at the ADBs annual meeting in Kyoto next May, the Philippines-based lender said in a statement.

"The goal is for ADB to benefit from the panels views in realigning its operations to stay relevant and effective as a regional development bank in achieving its overarching objective of a region without poverty," ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda said in the statement.

The panel also includes former German deputy finance minister Caio Koch-Weser, Isher Ahluwalia, chairwoman of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, and professor Justin Lin of the Beijing University's China Center for Economic Research. Summers is set to end his post as Harvard University president this June after announcing his resignation in February.

Idei is chief corporate advisor of the Japanese electronics giant Sony and Koch-Weser is currently vice chairman of Deutsche Bank. Supachai of Thailand, is current secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development.*AFP

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