Countries and Regions

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p. 22 of 22 BACK | NEXT I. Summary II. Background and Rationale III. The ADB Initiative Towards Economic Cooperation in Central Asia IV. Sector Priorities and the Proposed Program 2001-2003 V. Addressing Poverty and Governance and other Cross-Cutting Concerns VI. Issues and Challenges A. Increasing Internal Resources B. Improving Coordination with Other International Funding Agencies C. Country Programming Integration D. Regional Institutional Support

Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation : VI. Issues and Challenges

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D. Regional Institutional Support

56. Phase I operated through national coordinators and national steering committees in all of the concerned countries. In some cases the considerable and frequent reorganization of Government organizations have reduced the effectiveness of these arrangements and communication and coordination were coursed through the ADB’s normal counterpart agencies and personnel. With some signs of public sector stability in Central Asia and the full establishment of the ADB’s Resident Missions in all the countries, efforts are being elevated to strengthen institutional support for regional cooperation. ADB is presently assisting the participating countries to establish institutional arrangements, to be inaugurated at Conferences on Regional Cooperation in Transportation at end-September 2000, and on Trade and Investment planned for March 2001. These arrangements, similar in structure to those in the ADB-supported GMS program, will facilitate in a systematic manner high-level inter-governmental consultation and consensus-building between the participating countries and ADB. Specifically, the working groups to be established within these arrangements could play an important part in strengthening regional communication, dialogue, and project planning, particularly in energy, transport, trade, where the ADB has undertaken major regional commitments. Institutional strengthening measures may also be useful in areas such as education or rural finance where the ADB has important national programs and where cross-border communication could greatly facilitate policy dialogue.

Back C. Country Programming Integration	Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation