Marking the landmark 50th annual meeting this year, the Asian Development Bank has come a long way in supporting Asia on its journey to being the world's fastest-growing market.

The ADB was conceived in the early 1960s as an Asian-focused financial institution that would foster economic growth and cooperation in, what was at the time, one of the poorest regions in the world.

A resolution passed at the first Ministerial Conference on Asian Economic Cooperation held by the U.N. Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East in 1963 set that vision on its way to becoming a reality.