The election coincided with the 27th ADFIAP annual meeting held on May 19 in Almaty, capital of the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan.
According to ADFIAP secretary general Orlando P. Peña, "the ADFIAP chair brings not only honor and prestige to his country but more importantly international recognition to the Philippines as a regional leader in development finance." Tambunting is only the second Filipino to hold this prestigious position. Former Finance Secretary Vicente "Ting" Jayme was the first Filipino ADFIAP chairman in 1977.
Tambunting succeeded retired International Finance Corp. of Thailand (IFCT) president and former ADFIAP chairman Anothai Techamontrikul. Elected vice chairmen were Taci Bayhan of the Development bank of Turkey for South Asia and Falefa Lima of the Development Bank of Samoa for the Pacific.
ADFIAP is an association of over 50 development banks in 25 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It was organized by the Asian Development Bank in 1976 to promote excellence in development finance, values information exchange, professional development and business networking among members.
This year, ADFIAP will further transcend to a higher ground by coming up with advocacy programs in support of sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region by entering into the mainstream of regional and global development organizations. Institutional partners of these projects include InWent of Germany, US-Asia Environmental Partnership (USAEP), Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), International Trade Center UNCTAD/WTO (ITC) and others.
Tambunting is well-known in the Philippines as a pioneer in SME financing and whose institution, Plantersbank, is currently in partnership with such prestigious multilateral financial institutions, among others, the International Finance Corp. of the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank and the Dutch Development Bank FMO. He was recently conferred the Management Man of the Year 2003 award by the Management Association of the Philippines for attaining distinction in the practice of management and for his contribution to the country’s progress.