Greater Mekong Subregion

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p. 3 of 7 BACK | NEXT History and Background Institutional Arrangements ADB's Role Progress and Achievements 10-Year Strategic Framework The GMS Program - The Way Forward GMS Regional Economic Cooperation Strategy and Program

ADB's Role

ADB is mandated to promote regional cooperation by its Charter, which provides that ADB should give priority to regional, subregional, and national programs and projects that contribute most effectively to the harmonious economic growth of the region.

ADB's Long-Term Strategic Framework for 2001-2015 identifies support to regional cooperation and integration for development as one of three cross-cutting themes that will both broaden and deepen the core areas of ADB's intervention.

Specifically, ADB's support to regional cooperation and integration for development reflects the need to

• support the development of ADB's developing member countries through cooperation
• provide wider development options through greater access to resources and markets
• address shared problems that stretch across borders
• take advantage of opportunities for sharing knowledge and information.

ADB supports a number of broad-based regional and subregional cooperation initiatives to accelerate the development of participating countries, of which the Greater Mekong Subregion initiative is the most prominent example. ADB has also led regional cooperation efforts in South Asia and Central Asian Republics. As a key priority in enhancing the development options in the region, ADB will continue its support for subregional cooperation and economic integration; in fact, such support must increase in importance over the next 15 years, given the dynamics of regional and global integration.

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