Summary
Samiuela Tukuafu is an international expert with more than 35 years of professional experience in Banking, Corporate Governance, Public Financial Management and Climate Finance, previously occupying senior executive roles in the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the private sector and in the Government of Tonga. Before joining ADB in 2000, he worked in Tonga’s Ministry of Finance as Deputy Accountant General and Head of Budget, Price Waterhouse (Fiji) as Senior Auditor, Bank of Tonga as Manager Finance & Marketing and the National Reserve Bank of Tonga as Deputy Governor. At 65 years of age, Mr. Tukuafu retired from the ADB in 2018 as its Country Director for Cambodia, responsible for a two-yearly program of US$250 million and administering a portfolio of $1.1 billion. Within the ADB he has led the planning, programming, design, appraisal, implementation and evaluation of significant development projects in agriculture and climate change, education, energy, financial sector, infrastructure and public sector management across Asia and the Pacific over almost two decades, working with various bilateral and multilateral donors. He holds a Masters Degree in Banking and Corporate Finance. Since his retirement, he has closely followed regional and international developments in relation to climate action and finance, multilateral and bilateral reforms and developments on international standards. Mr. Tukuafu is the first Tongan national to have held a senior executive role in a Multilateral Financial Institution.