Director General (DG) of the Pacific Department within the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) is on a five-day visit to the Solomons.
Emma Veve who was appointed to the position in late February 2025 arrived in Honiara on Monday and has been visiting a number of projects co-financed and fully funded by ADB.
Speaking exclusively with the Solomon Star early this week, Ms Veve said, the visit is to catch up with the local staff at the ADB Solomon Islands office, to see firsthand some of the projects supported by ADB that are making progress in Honiara and get update on some of the projects.
While in Honiara, she was expected to meet top government officials from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID) and Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Since her arrival, she was able to see some of the projects supported by ADB and was impressed with the projects because it is able to transform the lives of Solomon Islanders.
Some of them included the new USP Solomon Islands campus at King George in East Honiara and the current road project stretching from Honiara City Council (HCC) roundabout to White River, East Honiara.
On Wednesday she inspected the upgraded Solomon Water projects along with the Minister of Mines and Energy Derrick Manuari, Solomon Water officials and the contractor.
She is due to visit the Tina Hydro project as well before flying out on Friday.
Ms. Veve is also leading the delivery of the forthcoming Pacific Approach 2026–2030, which will serve as ADB’s overall country partnership strategy for 12 of its 14 Pacific developing members: Cook Islands, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
She will also lead the implementation of ADB’s individual country partnership strategies for Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
Since her appointment five months ago she was delighted to work in the Pacific, and expressed deep commitment to helping shape the new Pacific Approach, which will serve as ADB’s guide to assisting the Pacific developing members achieve their development goals.
“In keeping with ADB’s role as Asia and the Pacific’s climate bank, we will remain focused on combating climate change and its impacts using innovation, knowledge, and collaboration,” she said.
Prior to her appointment as Director General for the Pacific, Emma was Deputy Director General with ADB’s Southeast Asia Department.
She also served as the Deputy Director General of the Pacific Department where she supported the Director General in the delivery of ADB operations across the 14 Pacific developing member countries.
Ms. Veve has also held other senior roles within ADB’s economic, social, and urban sectors in the Pacific Department.
Before joining ADB in 2005, Emma was the Economic Advisor with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Suva, Fiji and held various positions in the Australian commonwealth public service.
She is a national of Australia, holds a double degree in agricultural science and economics from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; and holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of New England, Armidale, Australia.
By MOFFAT MAMU
