ADB Setting up Public Finance Knowledge Hub at the AIM in Manila

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - ADB has signed an agreement to establish a knowledge hub on public finance, at Philippines' Asian Institute of Management's Roberto F. De Ocampo Center for Public Finance and Regional Economic Cooperation (AIM-RFO Center).

Signing a letter of intent at ADB Headquarters in Manila on Friday were Bindu Lohani, Director General of ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department, and Robert De Ocampo, Chairman, of the Board of Advisers at AIM-RFO Center.

The public finance knowledge hub at AIM-RFO Center will serve as a knowledge and information gateway on fiscal policy and practice, anti-corruption, and privatization.

“AIM-RFO will function as a regional think tank in a number of important areas identified in ADB's Medium Term Strategy II [MTS II] as well as act as a focal point for the collection, structuring, and dissemination of knowledge from a variety of resources,” says Mr. Lohani.

The Center conducts research and studies, organizes conferences, roundtables, lecture series, and distance learning symposia on a variety of public finance topics.

Backed by a regional technical assistance grant of US$990,000 approved in December, AIM-RFO will house one of four to six knowledge hubs to be set up throughout the region over two years.

A letter of intent for a first knowledge hub on clean energy at India's The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) was signed at ADB Headquarters last month.

Other existing research networks that have expressed interest in hosting a knowledge hub include UNEP and AIT in Bangkok, Thailand, on reduce, reuse and recycle (3Rs), and Tsinghua University in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, on climate change.

It is planned that the hubs will act as centers of excellence on emerging development topics, such as clean development mechanism, use of compressed natural gas and hybrid technologies in the transport sector, renewable energy, environmental technology, information and communications technology, as well as management techniques.

ADB will provide the technical and training support for the functioning of the hubs. To ensure high synergy and knowledge sharing, the hubs will be linked with each other, as well as with relevant national organizations. To promote regional cooperation and integration, they will collaborate with existing knowledge networks in the Asia and Pacific region.

Further, they will be linked to international academic and research organizations so that they can adapt the latest international development concepts to regional or local needs and demands.

Read the TA paper

About ADB