Welcome Remarks by Vice-President Geert van der Linden at the 11th MDB Roundtable on Harmonization

Geert van der Linden
Vice-President
Asian Development Bank

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all to Manila and to the 11th MDB Roundtable on Harmonization.

The last couple of years have witnessed a quantum jump in the joint efforts of the MDBs in achieving country level alignment, harmonization of operational policies, procedures and practices, and in managing for development results. The High Level Forum on Harmonization in Rome in 2003 and the Declaration that came out of that meeting has provided us with a widely accepted set of principles and a clear working agenda.

Since the Rome Forum, a great deal of work has been undertaken among the MDBs through regular meetings such as this Roundtable. The last two Roundtables, held in Washington D.C. and in Tunis in 2003, helped move the Rome agenda forward. Concrete, practical activities were agreed upon which permitted us to achieve considerable progress in harmonization at both the institutional and at the partner country levels.

Nevertheless, there is still considerable work ahead of us. The next High-Level Forum to be held in Paris early next year will be an important milestone in the area of harmonization and results management. In terms of preparation for the second High Level Forum alone the present Roundtable is a very important event.

To the benefit of everyone, cooperation with OECD/DAC is now a feature of this working process and numerous other IFIs have joined the activities of the various technical Working Groups in order to participate more fully in harmonization efforts. The Roundtable has also been expanded to include these IFIs.

The Working Groups are expanding in number and scope. A good example of this is the recent revival of the Capacity Development, Governance and Anti-Corruption Working Group, which as you are aware, is meeting tomorrow afternoon here at ADB headquarters. This meeting will agree on new Terms of Reference for the working group and allow it to start working towards improved harmonization in the important area of capacity building and governance.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have gained a lot of momentum during the last couple of years in moving the harmonization agenda forward at the institutional level. Let's use this Roundtable to achieve even more. We are to discuss among other things a very important subject, namely staff incentives, which are a crucial element if harmonization is to succeed.

While harmonization at the institutional level is important, the quality of cooperation at the country level remains the crucial test for determining the benefits to developing countries of harmonization efforts. Through MoUs agreed between the MDBs, a greater focus on practical cooperation in specific countries and in specific sectors has been achieved. Indeed, there are now many examples of positive cooperation among MDBs, e.g., in supporting countries to prepare their National Poverty Reduction Strategies, in analytical work, in the coordination of lending or grant operations in specific sectors, and in conducting joint portfolio reviews.

Donor efforts at expanding country-level harmonization in the Asia and Pacific region through the country-pilots in Viet Nam and the Philippines began even before the Rome Forum. These country pilots have been a useful exercise in addressing many of the practical difficulties involved in harmonization. Guided by the lessons learned from them, we have now expanded the implementation of harmonized procedures in several countries in the region including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kyrgyz Republic and PNG. I understand that similar efforts are underway across the globe in other regions as well.

Ladies and gentlemen, despite the considerable record of success in poverty reduction in Asia and the Pacific, this region still has the largest share of the world's poor. It is clear for us here at ADB, that our own individual efforts in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region can be much more effective with greater cooperation among development agencies. ADB views the coming High-Level Forum in Paris as a crucial milestone towards further progress in this field. In this regard, we have added to the Roundtable an additional half-day session, to be dedicated entirely to the preparations for the High-Level Forum next year.

To conclude, I would like to thank you once again for your participation in the Roundtable which I am sure will make a positive contribution towards achieving our common goals in the important field of harmonization.

I wish you a successful meeting and a pleasant stay in the Philippines.