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ADB-World Bank Forum on Social Policy Issues

The Asian Development Bank and the World Bank will hold a Forum on "The New Social Agenda for East Asia - Forum on Social Policy Issues" in Manila from October 26-29, 1999.

The Forum will bring high-level policymakers together with operational experts and external partners. About 200 senior representatives from Asian governments and civil society, the donor community, the private sector and both banks will participate in the event. It will provide a platform on which to exchange views and experience on social policy challenges and opportunities facing Asia at the dawn of the new century. It aims to draw operational lessons for social policy from the experience of the 1997-1999 Asian crisis. The Forum follows the January 1999, social policy meeting in Bangkok organized by the World Bank, and is part of a series of events to promote sustainable social policy for Asia.

The Forum is to be jointly organized by the Asian Development and the World Bank, with contributions from their training and research organizations, the ADB Institute and the WB Institute. The President of the Asian Development Bank, Mr. Tadao Chino, and the Vice President of the World Bank for the East Asia and Pacific Region, Mr. Jean-Michel Severino, will open the Forum. During the Forum, the Asian Development Bank will also discuss its new poverty strategy, due to be considered by the ADB Board of Directors in November.

Key topics to be addressed in the Forum include:

• Global labor markets, regionalization and other long-term social developments for Asia
• Promoting urban and rural poverty reduction
• Targeting social expenditures and reforming social sectors
• Building social safety nets and social protection
• New public/private partnerships for social policy and corporate restructuring
• Governance and poverty policies and programs

For further information contact Mr. Armin Bauer, Programs Department, ADB, at telephone (63-2) 632-6460 or e-mail abauer@adb.org, or Katherine Marshall, Director for Social Policy and Governance, East Asia Region, World Bank, telephone (1-202) 473-6923 or e-mail kmarshall@worldbank.org. Information on plans for the Forum will be posted on the World Bank's Website (www.worldbank.org/poverty/eacrisis).

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