Thursday, March 20, 2008

The ADB's annual meeting

The ADB's annual meeting is coming up in a month and a half, 3-6 of May.

THE DEADLINE FOR SUBSCRIPTION TO THE OFFICIAL EVENT IS *MARCH 15TH.*

We are working to coordinate logistics and programming, to maximize our collective advocacy impact. Please read the following information and kindly reply to questions we put forth together with the information about people coming to the event by next Wed *March 19st *the latest.
The most crucial information we need immediately is where participating groups are in their registration process for the official conference. If you plan to attend or you plan to invite people partners from the region and haven't secured an invitation to register, this needs to be done within the next week. If you need help please let us know.
The next urgency will be receiving visas, for our colleagues coming in from around the region. Again, we can assist in this process with a letter of invitation from partner groups, but we need an indication from you.
Please fill out and return our logistics questionnaire at your earliest convenience, for improved coordination.
As always, please communicate with us about your plans and how we can assist.
SECTIONS: 1. Advocacy Opportunities / Program 2. Logistics Update 3. Questionnaire 4. Calendar 5. Upcoming Call Schedule

*1. ADVOCACY OPPORTUNITIES / PROGRAM*
Core messaging around this meeting is still being discussed. This will continue to be sharpened in the coming weeks, prior to the event. The message has to come from the regional groups and try to find common themes with Spanish/ European groups. We also need to think of a rather simple media message/ hook.
*A) ADB Spaces:* Official events and unofficial events. We as usual will have a space within the premises of the annual meeting and we will also look for alternative events outside to have our own events. However during the annual meeting our press conferences should probably take place inside the meetings premises to maximize the presence of the press.
Meetings with the ADB officials: (YTD yet to be determined).
*B) Civil Society Spaces:* Outside of the official program, there will be YTD events organized by different groups. The EU coordinator is working on finding spaces for our events.
Ideas: workshops, panel discussion or debate between civil society and ADB officials on any number of topics, workshops, press conferences, mirror mobilization in dif.countries, etc.
*C) Media:* We need to form our media team and have an experienced point person in Europe / Asia.
Ideas for materials: Should we plan on producing a "daily civil society magazine? For this, we need your participation, even if you aren't going to be at the conference, contributions in the form of relevant articles would be appreciated. We will be in touch soon to solicit short articles and case studies from you to highlight our explicit concerns about the ADB and how they are operating in the region.
*2. ADB AGM LOGISTIC UPDATE*
*Registration:* If you are not registered, but would like to be, we need to know as soon as possible! The deadline to request accreditation is March 15th but it usually takes more than one step. If you need help please let us know.
*Visas:* Once you are registered and are requesting a visa, we can assist with letters of support for the Spanish. Embassy in your country. In some cases, people are asking for letters directly from the ADB, though the later it gets, the less feasible it will be to get those. Europe based NGO allies could also send such letters.
*Arrival:* The dates of the actual ADB meeting are Saturday May 3rd through Tuesday May 6th. However people *should arrive a day or two before to join the events of May 1st, International Labour day and for a strategy meeting on Friday May 2nd and a welcoming party, the Spanish way on the evening of the 2nd.*
*Housing:* The Forty-First Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank will be held from 3 to 6 May 2008 at the Institución Ferial de Madrid (IFEMA) <http://www.ifema.es/convenciones/default_i.html>in Madrid, Spain. Ideally, the NGO representatives should stay as close together as possible, which will facilitate activity planning and coordination. It is very likely that we will be staying in a hotel in Barajas, the same town than the airport is at. Its only 2 metro stops away from the ADB venue.
The name of the Hotel is IBIS Hotel, in Avenida General, 49, 28042 Madrid Phone number is (34) 91 301 09 99 and Fax (34) 305 73 50. The person we are talking to is Dominic Simon.
*Transportation:* The best way to get to the hotel is to take the metro, the stop is Barajas Metro Station which is 8 min.walk to the hotel. Alternatively if you send us your flight information we can arrange a shuttle to pick you up for 7 Euros per person. The cheapest way to get into town and to the ADB's venue is to take the metro which will cost you around 3 Euros. Buying a 10 trip pass upon arrival is probably your best bet. Keep in mind you need a 1 E supplement to get to and from the airport.
*Questions:* If you have further logistics questions, please direct them toward Paulina Novo, EU coordinator for the Forum { pn...@forum-adb.org } or Hemantha Withanage heman...@forum-adb.org
*3. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS*
Who from your organization is planning to come? (Please include organization full name, title, cell phone number, and e-mail address and passport number and country that issues it)
What dates will they be in Spain? Date of arrival and date of departure
Do you/ they need accommodation? Do you/ they have any dietary, medical special needs?
What are you planning or would like to see regarding outside civil society programs or events?
Which project/policy advocacy you want to bring to the Madrid AGM? Whom you are planning to meet?
What short written materials you want to contribute for the NGO publications? These could be overall thematic critiques or specific problematic case studies.
Do you have someone who can participate on the Media Team? Are there any of your representatives you would like to serve as a CSO spokesperson?
Note: Those who are planning to attend should write to heman...@forum-adb.org or pn...@forum-adb.org on or before March , 2008
*4) CALENDAR* Note: this is preliminary and will be updated in the coming weeks, especially as civil society groups organize their events. Even the calendar of official events is still being set , we will need your feed back to know what events we want to organize.
For the full list of official events, please see: http://www.adb.org/AnnualMeeting/2008/program-events.asp
DAY UNOFFICIAL OFFICIAL Thursday May 1st Arrival of NGOs, participate on May 1st Spanish events (May be even a day before? We need to discuss) Participant registration Friday May 2nd Morning: Press briefing breakfast (YTD) Labour standards panel (?) Participant registration Friday May 2nd Daytime: NGOs arrive Evening: Spanish Happy hour / dinner- Don't miss it!
Friday, May 3rd (Day 1) Press conference Energy panel (?)- Greenpeace, Setem, others
Saturday, May 4th (Day 2) 4:30 Safeguard panel (?) 4:30 "Institutional Investors' Roundtable: Current Market Turmoil". Sunday, May 5th (Day 3) 4:30 Safeguard panel (?) 14:30 on "Economic Integration and Financial Market Stability Monday, May 6th (Day 4) -do-
Tuesday, May 7th (day 5) Morning: Closure of the events Afternoon: departure
* * *Other ideas on the table:*
- ADB members in Q&A with relevant ADB staff on audit/anticorruption, information disclosure, or the accountability mechanism - Energy round table: biofuels, extractives, hydro (Greenpeace, Setem, FoE (?), others) - Mirror events/ international day of action in Asia, demonstration at ADB venues in the region - Linking events to Alianza Continental events in Lima (Mid May) ; counter forum of Water in Zaragoza (April); - Invite people from Bank of the South/ Venezuela - Street Theater - Concert of famous leftist group/ singer in solidarity - Join the International Labour Day events (1st of May)
* * *5) CONFERENCE CALL SCHEDULED FOR March 18 or 19th. Please send your preference by Monday 17th.*
General Call: Point person: Paulina Novo, NGO Forum on ADB pn...@forum-adb.org
Media Working Group:. Point person: Romil Hernandez, ro...@forum-adb.org
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