Manila, Philippines – ADB has appointed Rajat M. Nag as its new Managing Director General. He will take over from Young-Hoi Lee after his term finishes on 14 December 2006.

Mr. Nag moves from his current position of Director General of ADB’s Southeast Asia Department, as well as concurrently Special Advisor to the ADB President on Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration.

As Managing Director General, Mr. Nag will be engaged in high-level coordination and synthesis of work among ADB’s four Vice-Presidents, under the overall guidance of the President.

Mr. Nag, a Canadian with 30 years of professional experience, joined ADB in 1986 as Project Economist in the Agriculture Department. He was assigned to ADB’s Nepal Resident Mission from 1991 to 1994 and held various senior positions in ADB’s Programs Department (West) and in the Financial Sector and Industry Division, Infrastructure Department (West).

In 2001, Mr. Nag was a member of the management committee that formulated proposals for the reorganization of ADB operations. He was appointed as Deputy Director of the Programs Department (West) in May 2000 and then as Director General of the Mekong Department under the reorganized structure of ADB in 2002. He concurrently assumed the role of Special Advisor in April 2005 and was appointed Director General of the newly amalgamated Southeast Asia Department in May 2006.

He started his professional career at Canada’s central bank, the Bank of Canada, where he worked for five years as an Economist/Financial Analyst. Prior to joining ADB, he worked as an Energy and Water Resources Planning Specialist with an international consulting firm; his last position there being Chief Economist of a large multidisciplinary team on a River Basin Planning study in Indonesia.

Mr. Nag has degrees in Engineering (Indian University of Technology, Delhi and University of Saskatchewan, Canada), Business Administration (University of Saskatchewan, Canada), and Economics (London School of Economics, United Kingdom).

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