Catalog

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To fight poverty in a region with more than 600 million poor people surviving on $1 a day, ADB's new long-term strategy—Strategy 2020—will refocus ADB operations on three development agendas: inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.

Developing Asian economies will register solid growth in 2008 despite a slowdown in major industrial economies, surging food and fuel prices, and a simmering credit crisis in the United States, according to ADB’s flagship annual publication, Asian Development Outlook 2008. A special theme chapter discusses how developing Asian countries may fail to reap the “demographic dividend” if they do not invest in their education and training systems to make them more relevant to the demands of their rapidly modernizing economies. Read the highlights or the full report.

At the Greater Mekong Subregion Summit held in Vientiane from 30-31 March, the prime ministers of Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam agreed on a comprehensive five-year Plan of Action that aims to spur growth, reduce poverty, promote social development, and enhance environmental protection in the subregion.

ADB President Haruhuko Kuroda and Vice Presidents Liqun Jin and Ursula Schäfer-Preuss conducted outreach missions and addressed conferences away from headquarters in March.

The ADB Resident Mission donated six computer workstations to Bishkek Gymnasium-Boarding School #1, a school for orphans and children from poor families. Each workstation includes a monitor, keyboard, and accessories.

A feasible, workable approach for Asian integration is evolving—one that is market-friendly, multi-track, and multi-speed, and allows for a healthy dose of pragmatism among a collegial group of economies, said ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda at the ADB–European Commission-sponsored conference in Brussels, Belgium on 10 March.

Mobilizing Finance to Address Climate Change
Climate change poses a critical development challenge, but it also provides an opportunity to promote a transition toward a sustainable growth pathway, said ADB Vice President Ursula Schäfer-Preuss in a speech delivered at the 4th Ministerial Meeting of the Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy, and Sustainable Development held in Chiba, Japan on 15 March.

A massive $183 million program to improve the environment in three highly polluted cities in the People's Republic of China’s leading coal-producing province has given nearly 7 million residents a cleaner environment and a higher standard of living.

New Highways Revitalize Ancient Tea Horse Roads
A new highway spanning the People's Republic of China, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Thailand is connecting isolated rural communities with modern commercial corridors, and fostering new economic links that carry with them the potential to bring the people along the highway a new level of prosperity.