2 Pakistani students take prizes in Asia and Pacific Essay Competition

Two Pakistani students were named yesterday as prizewinners in a student essay competition on Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific. Muniba Mahmud and Saba Majeed, both students of the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi were among the 26 students from 16 member states of ADB honoured in the competition open to university students aged 18-29 years from Asia and the Pacific.

The competition was sponsored by ADB and ROAD, a network of Japanese university students concerned about development issues, through ADB's Japan Special Fund, financed by the Government of Japan. It is part of a series of educational events that will precede ADBs 40th Annual Meeting that is to be held in Kyoto, Japan, 6-7 May.

A three-member independent jury reviewed each of the more than 600 essays submitted in the Asia and Pacific Student Essay Competition. Each essay is the independent work of the student and reflects their personal views.

Jury members included Ashok Khosla, Chairman, Development Alternatives, New Delhi, India; and Erna Witoelar, United Nations Special Ambassador for MDGs in Asia and the Pacific, Jakarta, Indonesia. Tseuneaki Yoshida, Professor, Project Planning and Management, University of Tokyo, chaired the jury.

"This competition has provided the opportunity for hundreds of university students to contribute their views on major public policy issues challenging Asia and the Pacific," says Bindu N. Lohani, Director General of ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department.

"The upcoming Youth Forum in Kyoto will provide an exciting opportunity for the winning essayists to deliberate development priorities and ways in which the region's environmental, economic, and social challenges can be effectively addressed with the active involvement of young people."

All 26 winners are being invited to participate in a week-long program culminating in the Youth Forum on Sustainable Development in Kyoto on 17 March. The Forum will provide winning essayists with the opportunity to deliberate on sustainable development issues.

The event will conclude with adoption of the Voice of the Youth, a statement written by the students on sustainable development. In addition, the winning essays will be assembled and published in a book.

The essays written from a country or regional perspective addressed one of three specific topics: economic growth and environmental conservation; human resource development and institutions; and industry and infrastructure.

They were judged on the basis of originality and creativity of thought, structure and coherence of arguments, awareness of sustainable development within the context of the essay environment and realities, and relevance to the competitions themes.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in the Asia and Pacific region through pro-poor sustainable economic growth, social development, and good governance. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members 48 from the region. In 2006, it approved loans and grants for projects totaling $8.5 billion, and technical assistance amounting to almost $242 million.

The full list of winners is:

• Thinley Choden of Bhutan, University of Hawaii at Manoa, age 28
• Chanprathna Leng of Cambodia, International University of Japan, age 27
• Heng Dyna of Cambodia, Nagoya University, Japan, age 24
• Rotha Chan of Cambodia, International University of Japan, age 26
• Li Xing of the People's Republic of China, China Agricultural University, age 19
• Shana Khan of Fiji Islands, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, age 27
• Kavindra Nand of Fiji Islands, The University of the South Pacific, age 23
• Leung Yih-Terng of Hong Kong, China; University of Hong Kong, age 22
• Sreya Bagchi of India, Randolph-Macon Women's College, Lynchburg, VA, US, age 18
• Ramnath Kalyani of India, National Law School of India University
• Jawahar Shah of India, TERI University, age 21
• Syaiful Afifi of Indonesia, Brawijaya University Malang, age 23
• Terumi Ishii of Japan, The University of Tokyo, age 23
• Akiko Iwamoto of Japan, Gakushuin University, age 22
• Megumi Koba of Japan, International University of Kagoshima, age 22
• MeeHyoe Koo of the Republic of Korea, Ewha Women's University, age 21
• Elvira Bobekova of Kyrgyz Republic, The University of Auckland, New Zealand, age 29
• Bayarlkham Byambaa of Mongolia, Akita International University, age 19
• Tin Yadana Moe of Myanmar, Yangon Institute of Economics, age 23
• Muniba Mahmud of Pakistan, Institute of Business Administration, age 21
• Saba Majeed of Pakistan, Institute of Business Administration, age 23
• Carl Renan Estrellan of Philippines, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, age 28
• Ritchie-Anne Guzman of Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, age 26
• Charybel Magbuo of Philippines, De la Salle University, age 20
• Fundow Jerasakanon of Thailand, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, age 21
• Le Hoang Anh Thu of Viet Nam, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, age 25

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