ADB Launching Major Public Finance Knowledge Center in Manila

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - ADB is supporting a regional knowledge center focused on public finance that opens today in Manila.

“This newly opened center aims to be at the forefront of knowledge on the subjects of public finance, fiscal policy, and regional economic cooperation,” said Bindu N. Lohani, Director General and Chief Compliance Officer of ADB’s Regional and Sustainable Development Department.

The Robert F. De Ocampo Center for Public Finance and Regional Economic Cooperation operated in partnership with the Center for Research and Communication Foundation.

Specific areas of activities planned for later this year include a study on improving internal business processes to strengthen governance in the public sector; an assessment of policies on local government finance and its impact on the readiness of local governments to access the capital markets.

A public financial management conference will also be hosted by the center, and a website will be launched in 2008 to help disseminate its work.

The new center is one of five ADB regional knowledge hubs. The others are in the following locations: TERI, India, which focuses on clean energy; Tsinghua University, China, which looks at climate change; the Asian Institute of Technology; UNESCAP; UNEP, Thailand, which focuses on reduce, reuse, and recycle; and a hub, which specializes in Private-Public Partnerships on Infrastructure in Singapore.

Robert F. De Ocampo, the former Philippines Secretary of Finance, will serve as Chairman of the Board of Advisers for the new center.

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