Election commissioner Ashok Lavasa will join the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as Vice-President for Private Sector Operations and Public–Private Partnerships. He will succeed Diwakar Gupta, whose term will end on 31 August. Typically, the term of a vice president is for three years. However, this can be extended by another two years.

Lavasa, who has also served as finance secretary, had two more years left as election commissioner.

In a statement, the ADB said that Lavasa has had a long and distinguished career in the Indian civil service. Lavasa, a retired Haryana cadre IAS officer joined as Election Commissioner in January 2018.

Lavasa led the Indian delegation in the climate change negotiations for the Paris Agreement and was instrumental in finalizing India’s nationally determined contributions, which included a major role of the private sector. At both policy and project levels, he made significant contributions to the inclusion of the private sector in many development programs in India for different sectors such as energy, agriculture, finance, and infrastructure. As Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, he worked closely with many ADB projects that had private sector components.

Meanwhile, ADB also said it remained committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region..