Towards Inclusive Growth: Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific

3 May 2009 (4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.)

As the global economic slowdown hits developing Asia, there are growing concerns regarding its social impacts. These concerns only add to an earlier concern expressed prior to the slowdown-that economic growth in the region has not been "inclusive" enough.

Making growth more inclusive is imperative for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 2009 is past the halfway mark to 2015, the target year for accomplishing the eight MDGs. Prospects are gravest for the goals of reducing non income poverty, in particular those related to child and maternal mortality, nutrition, sanitation, and slum upgrading. While many Asian countries are still expected to cut extreme income poverty in half by 2015, the global economic slowdown is likely to reduce the pace of poverty reduction and make particular subgroups of the population vulnerable to falling into poverty.

The seminar provides a forum for policymakers to discuss the following two challenges. First, what should governments and their development partners do to ensure that gains made in recent years are not vitiated by the current economic slowdown. Second, beyond the economic slowdown, what can be done to ensure that growth is more inclusive.

Of particular interest to the audience will be the panelists' views on the following questions:

• What are the implications of the current economic slowdown for developing Asia's agenda of poverty reduction and inclusive growth? What are the transmission channels of the crisis insofar as MDG achievements and gender issues are concerned?
• Is the growing income inequality that the region has experienced in recent years an inevitable feature of the process of development? How does trade affect poverty and income inequality, and can global integration be managed to make it more conducive to inclusive growth?
• What are the institutional challenges that governments face in ensuring that growth is inclusive? What can governments do to overcome these?
• How can development partners, including governments, multilateral institutions, NGOs and civil society, best respond to the crisis and support inclusive growth?

Against the background of the current crisis, and the importance of the MDGs, the seminar concludes with the launch of an Investment Case for Maternal Newborn and Child Health in Asia and the Pacific. The Investment Case is an important initiative by a wide range of development partners, focusing on where, why, and how there should be increased - and better allocated - public expenditure for maternal newborn and child health in this region. The Investment Case will be launched by the Vice President of the Asian Development Bank, Dr. Ursula Schaefer - Preuss, and the Australian Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, The Hon Bob McMullan MP.