TEHRAN Haunted by rising anti-globalization protests, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is seeking common ground with a vocal minority that is seeking greater rights for the underdog.

As governors of the 59-member ADB head to Honolulu, Hawaii next month for their annual meeting, the bank is fine-tuning policies to address the concerns of the lobbies of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) that espouse a wide range of human rights and environmental causes.

The hosts are preparing for protests against the supposed evils of increasing economic integration.

Since violent anti-globalization demonstrations derailed the World Trade Organization talks in Seattle in 1999, they have become a part of most major international gatherings.

Anti-capitalism protests had hounded ADB's last annual meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand last year.

"The ADB has always been in consultation, and dialogue with NGOs in order to strengthen our ties with NGOs," bank President Tadao Chino told AFP in an interview.

"I believe that ADB and the NGOs, at the end of the day have the same goal -- that of an Asia-Pacific region free of poverty. So I hope we can have a constructive relationship with NGOs."

The ADB has commissioned a review on the ecological and public health impact of a $750 million waste water treatment project in the Thai Province of Samut Prakarn, for which the Manila-based bank lent $230 million.

"Many Asian economies, particularly in Eastern and Southeast Asia have achieved high economic growth rates and succeeded in reducing poverty by choosing outward-oriented economic policies as part of the globalization process," Chino said.

Asia remains home to two out of three of the world's poor, but Chino said the ratio would be cut in half by 2015.