The Asian Development Bank opens this year's annual meeting in the Philippine capital with a call to promote more inclusive growth in emerging Asian economies.

ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said on May 2 that despite the region's stellar economic rise - the developing Asian economies are projected to expand 6.9 percent this year - millions of Asians continue to subsist on less than 1.25 U.S. dollars a day.

"The region still faces significant long-term challenges. High among these is the issue of rising inequality," Kuroda said in a briefing held on the sidelines of the four-day 45th Annual Meeting of Board of Governors.

He highlighted the parallels between relatively higher growth among member countries in Asia-Pacific on one hand and the rising incidence of poverty and income inequality in the region on the other.

The region is home to some of the world's fastest growing economies and rising prosperity has managed to reduce huge poverty levels.

According to the UN Millennium Development Goals Report for 2011, East Asia, particularly China, have made the sharpest reduction in poverty incidence thanks mainly to its rapid economic growth. In China, the poverty rate is expected to fall to under 5 percent by 2015.

Another rising Asian economy, India, has also slashed its poverty rate. India's poverty rates are projected to fall from 51 percent in 1990 to about 22 percent in 2015.

"In China and India combined, the number of people living in extreme poverty between 1990 and 2005 declined by about 455 million, and an additional 320 million people are expected to join their ranks by 2015," according to the UN MDG report for 2011.

But more than reducing the number of poor people, the region has to contend with widening inequality.

In its annul flagship publication Asian Development Outlook issued last month, the ADB said that 11 of the 28 developing Asian economies, which account for about 82 percent of developing Asia's population in 2010, "experienced rising inequality of per capita expenditure or income, as measured by the Gini coefficient."

Kuroda added that more than the Gini coefficient, it is also important to look at whether policy makers in the region have invested in healthcare and education to improve its people's welfare.

He cited Vietnam as one of the growing Asian economies that managed to limit inequality and invest on health and education services.

Kuroda said the drivers of the region's economic success - new technology, globalization and market-oriented reforms - are the same factors that "create and increase disparities within and among Asian economies."

"While these economic trends cannot and should not be reversed, it is critical that they be counterbalanced by policies that will make growth in the region more inclusive," he said.

Kuroda said economic expansion needs to be complimented by policies that promote inclusive growth. These include raising public investments on education, infrastructure and job generation.

Kuroda also announced that the ADB has secured Special Drawing Rights worth 12.4 billion U.S. dollars for the next four-year phase of its concessional development fund to slash poverty incidence in the region.

The contributions to the Asian Development Fund (ADF), which will cover ADB operations from 2013 to 2016, represent an increase of 11.1 percent in SDR compared with the fund's previous four-year period.

The ADF will finance improved access to education, social safety nets and the development of clean and renewable energy. They will also seek to narrow the development gaps and rising income inequality, and help vulnerable countries cope with shocks such as rising food and fuel prices, natural disasters and conflict.

The ADF will also be used to promote gender mainstreaming, good governance, food security, private sector development, and stronger regional cooperation. Special attention will be given to countries affected by conflict and smaller island states with fragile economies.

Donors agreed to establish a Disaster Response Facility under the ADF on a pilot basis to support the poorest countries in responding to natural disasters.