Asian Development Bank (ADB) members from developed countries have asked the bank to channel more of its additional funding to clean projects and programs in poor member countries, while members from developing countries want faster disbursements to help restore growth in the region.

Board of governor members from the Netherlands, Germany and Nordic countries, for example, told the bank Monday to use some of the additional capital to invest in new areas of interests, including climate change and clean energy.

“Besides poverty reduction, we will continue to pay close attention to the ADB’s activities in the areas of climate, energy, growth, equality, gender and fragile situations,” said Kees Rade, head of the Netherlands delegation, Monday.

At the meeting, the bank’s board of governors agreed to triple the bank’s capital from US$55 billion (Rp 580 trillion) to $165 billion.

Speaking at the same forum, Karin Kortmann, the governor representing Germany, said the ADB should focus on introducing a “low-carbon economy in Asia” to achieve sustainable poverty reduction and economic development.

Marjatta Rasi, the ADB governor representing Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, said the current crisis should be seen in the broader context of poverty reduction and climate change, therefore the ADB should direct its resources to these areas.

“We should use this opportunity to invest in a greener economy, and to ensure that development is ecologically, socially and economically sustainable,” Rasi said.

“The main challenge for the ADB is to integrate climate considerations in all investments and promote green growth.”

In the energy sector, Rasi told the ADB to “focus fully on renewable and clean energy”.

Delegations from the United States and United Kingdom, meanwhile, insisted the ADB help its poor member countries by increasing contributions to the Asian Development Fund.

Karen Mathiasen, head of the U.S. delegation, said the tripling of ADB’s capital should come hand in hand with the tripling of contributions from the bank to the fund, to ensure greater resource transfers to the poorest member countries.

Mike Foster from the United Kingdom noted his country was offering almost US$10 million directly to the fund, especially to promote gender equality within ADB projects.

Meanwhile, ADB board of governor members from developing countries focused their attention on accelerating disbursements of ADB loans to restore positive growth in the Asia and Pacific region.

Chinese Finance Minister Xie Xuren told the governors meeting that addressing the current financial crisis was the most demanding task for members from developing countries.

“The ADB should expand the scale of assistance, accelerate the disbursement process, meet the demands of developing members on trade liquidity and investment, and support regional financial cooperation to promote stable growth in the region,” he said.

Supporting Xie’s argument, Jeung Hyun Yoon from South Korea noted the bank should strengthen its counter-cyclical role by providing enough liquidity to financially strapped member countries.

“To this end, I propose the bank take concrete measures including front-loading and fast disbursing the bank’s available resources,” he said.

Memduh Aslan Akcay from Turkey shared a similar view, saying multilateral development banks like the ADB served as a critical source of financing for developing countries to mitigate the adverse effects of the current crisis.

“It is therefore important to provide solutions by extending flexible, fast-disbursing and front-loaded financing to developing countries,” he said.

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