News and Events

Fourth Asia Development Forum
The Shilla Hotel, Seoul, Republic of Korea: 3-5 November 2002

The ADF is a premier regional forum for engaging in dialogue on emerging policy issues for the Asia and Pacific Region. Its broad objective is to strengthen links and policy dialogues within the development community of the Asia and Pacific Region.

Sponsors are the Asian Development Bank, Korea Development Institute, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, and the World Bank.

Objectives

This year's Forum focuses on trade and poverty. Among issues to be addressed are:

• how international trade and investment will be affected by the launch of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations, PRC's WTO entry, and bilateral and regional trade agreements
• how Asia's economies could enhance competitiveness addressing behind-the-border issues such as innovation and intellectual property rights, services sector liberalization, and investment policy
• how the benefits of globalization/regional integration can be shared more widely by the poor and vulnerability managed.

Major Topics

The Forum is organized along three seminar series:

• Trade-Related Events
• Behind-the-Border Issues
• Trade and Poverty

Participants

Participation is by invitation only, with about 200 people expected to attend. Participants will be invited from

• government agencies
• regional/international organizations
• academia
• policy research institutes and think tanks
• nongovernment organizations

Seminar Papers

• Agenda, Papers, and Presentations
• Proceedings of the Fourth Asia Development Forum on Trade and Poverty Reduction

Media Information

Media Schedule

Members of the media are invited to attend the opening session, the press conference, and the closing session of the Forum. Deputy Prime Minister and concurrent Minister of Finance and Economy, Republic of Korea, Jeon Yun-churl will speak at the opening session. Other speakers include World Bank (WB) President James D. Wolfensohn (via video), WB Vice President Jemal-ud-din Kassum, ADB Vice President Myoung-Ho Shin, KDI President Choongsoo Kim, and KIEP President Choong Yong Ahn. Details are as follows:

Media Advisory

• Media Advisory [ PDF: 1kb | 3 pages ]

News Releases

• Asian Countries Must Make Free Trade Pacts Work for Development
• Policy Makers, Experts Discuss Impact of Trade Pacts on Asian Economies
• Impacts of Trade Liberalization to Poverty and Growth in Asia

Please forward all inquiries and request for interviews to:

Omana Nair
Tel: +632 632 5877 / 5178
E-mail: onair@adb.org

Contacts

Jeffrey Liang
Economics and Research Department
Asian Development Bank
Tel: +632 6326630
Fax: +632 6362357
Email: jliang@adb.org

Seung-Tae Lim
East Asia and Pacific Region
The World Bank
Tel: +1 202 4738582
Fax: +1 202 5221557
Email: slim1@worldbank.org

Omana Nair
Office of External Relations
Asian Development Bank
Tel: +632 6325877
Fax: +632 6362640
Email: onair@adb.org

Nakgyoon Choi
Department of Trade and Investment Policy
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy
Tel: +82 2 34601079
Fax: +82 2 34601077
Email: ngchoi@kiep.go.kr

Kwang-Eon Sul
Korea Development Institute
Tel: +82 2 9584021
Email: sul@kdi.re.kr

Related Events

• Trade Policy Issues Workshop (25 February-1 March 2002, Singapore)
• Doha Development Agenda: Implications for Developing Asia (10 May 2002, Hawaii, USA)
• High-Level Meeting on the WTO Trading System (31 July-2 August 2002, Bangkok, Thailand)
• The Third Asia Development Forum (11-14 June 2001, Bangkok, Thailand)
• The Second Asia Development Forum (5-8 June 2000, Singapore)