ADB appoints news country director for Bangladesh

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has appointed Kazuhiko Higuchi as the new country director for its Bangladesh resident mission.

"I am looking forward to working for Bangladesh, and the people of Bangladesh," Kazuhiko Higuchi was quoted as saying in a statement on Thursday.

"Bangladesh is progressing fast and ADB will continue to make every effort to support Bangladesh's endeavor toward further reaping the potential of the country."

According to the ADB statement, Higuchi succeeds M Teresa Kho, who moved to become the country director for ADB's resident mission in New Delhi in February this year.

Higuchi is expected to assume his new position on April 22. Higuchi, a Japanese national, joined ADB in 1988, and has since worked on transport, water supply, and urban development projects, as well as on portfolio management, procurement and office management.

Prior to this assignment, he was in Uzbekistan as ADB country director, a post he had held since 2009.

From 2005 to 2009, Higuchi was the director of the Transport and Communications Division of the South Asia Department of ADB, managing ADB's operations in the transport and communications sectors in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. From 2002 to 2005, he was posted in Kazakhstan as ADB country director.

Kazuhiko Higuchi holds a Master of Science degree in construction management in Loughborough University of Technology, UK, and a Bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan. Endi