Jin succeeds Vice-President Myoung-Ho Shin of the Republic of Korea, who is retiring after five years of service, and the appointment is to take effect from August 1, 2003, ADB said Thursday in a statement.

Jin, 53, is Chinese vice minister of finance mainly in charge of the budget for administrative expenses of education, science, culture and external economic affairs.

Currently the alternate governor for China at ADB, the World Bank Group and the Global Environment Facility, Jin has been active in international economic affairs for almost two decades, particularly since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

He has worked on a number of bilateral and multilateral economic and finance forums, such as the China-US Joint Economic Committee, China-UK Economic and Finance Dialogue, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Finance Ministers' Meeting, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus Three.

In addition, Jin is a member of the State Monetary Policy Committee and the Anti-Terrorism Committee of the People's Republic of China.

Jin holds an Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Beijing Foreign Studies University. He was also a Hubert Humphrey Fellow in the Economics Graduate Program at Boston University from1987 to 1988. He joined the Ministry of Finance in 1980 after completing his graduate program from Beijing Foreign Languages Institute.

(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2003)