Beijing, July 11: China`s Vice-Minister of Finance Jinliqun has become the first-ever Chinese citizen to be appointed as vice-president of the manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB), media reports said today. The Ministry of Finance said the board of directors of the ADB, acting on the recommendation of ADB president Chino Tadao, made the appointment on Thursday, with effect from August 1, 2003.

Jin will succeed Shin Myoung-Ho of South Korea, who will end his term on July 31. He will be the first Chinese ADB vice-president since the institution`s establishment in 1966. Jin, 53, is mainly in charge of the budget for administrative expenses of education, science, culture and external economic affairs with the finance ministry.

Sources with ministry said many countries had recommended candidates for the post and competition was "very intense".

As the candidate of China, Jin was said to be experienced in fiscal, financial and macro-economic administration, and he also has experience of working in international financial institutions, Xinhua news agency said. Currently the alternate Governor for China at ADB, the World Bank group and the global environment facility, Jin has been active in international economic affairs for almost two decades, since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

In addition, Jin is a member of the state monetary policy committee and the anti-terrorism committee of China.

The ADB, with 61 member states, is the largest regional development bank in the Asia-Pacific area and offers a total of six billion US dollars of aid annually to its developing member states. Bureau Report