ADBI: Year in Review 2015

Message from the Dean

  Archive The year in review reports summarizes
ADBI's achievements, activities
and financial highlights for the year. The Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) was ranked second among the world’s government-affiliated think tanks in 2015 by the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program. I commend our staff members for their excellent work and their dedication to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific.

ADBI stays relevant by responding to the policy needs of our developing member countries.

ADBI works to do the following:

• Share knowledge. In 2015, we published 46 working papers, 16 books, and 4 policy briefs, and contributed 10 chapters to various books and 11 articles to refereed journals. We held over 40 events attended by 936 government officials and businesspeople. Through research and training, ADBI strives to accomplish its goals.
• Minimize income inequality in Asia by promoting continuous and sustainable growth.
• Increase bankable projects in infrastructure.
• Increase local government revenue by establishing proper allocation of expenses and revenue between central and local governments.
• Bring finance to poor, remote areas and small and medium-sized enterprises.
• Promote financial education.
• Protect the environment.

2015 was a good year for ADBI. We will strive to ensure that ADBI remains at the forefront of growth and development in Asia and the Pacific in 2016.

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Capacity Building and Training

Overview

The Capacity Building and Training (CBT) Department had a very successful year in 2015. The sectoral range and geographic reach of activities was expanded and addressed ADBI’s priority themes through policy dialogue events and training workshops. These events—41 in total—were organized in Tokyo and in all five regions of Asia and the Pacific.

A new series of Policy Briefs was initiated which was designed to disseminate widely the policy issues discussed at CBT events and to reach out to policy makers across Asia.

Key Events:

• The ADBI–OECD Roundtable on Capital Market and Financial Reform in Asia
• The Asia Leadership Program on Sustainable Development and Climate Change
• The Asia Regional Workshop on Public–Private Partnerships: Engaging the Private Sector
• The 9th East Asia Conference on Competition Law and Policy and the 11th East Asia Top Level Officials’ Meeting on Competition Policy
• Training on Economic Corridor Development for Competitive and Inclusive Asia
• Workshop on Economic and Social Impacts of Infrastructure Projects: Methods and Case Studies

Key Publication

• Building Effective Structures and Institutions for Migration Governance

Policy Briefs

• Ensuring the Triple Win of Labor Migration in Asia
• Global Value Chains along the New Silk Road
• Exchanging Information to Combat Tax Evasion

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Research

Overview

The Research Department continued its rigorous activities in ADBI’s major initiatives and also initiated high-profile research studies on new research topics in 2015. The objective of the research activities is to cover emerging development issues that crosscut the areas of inclusive and sustainable growth, regional cooperation and integration, and governance for policies and institutions. In collaboration with the CBT Department, the outputs of major studies will be published in various accessible formats and will also form the basis of future capacity building and training activities at ADBI.

Selected Highlights of Major Research Activities

• High-Level Global Symposium: Promoting Better Lifetime Planning through Financial Education
• Policy dialogue on Housing Policies for Emerging Asia
• Conference: Central and Local Government Relations: Fiscal Sustainability
• Workshop on SMEs in Developing Asia: New Approaches to Overcoming Market Failures
• Conference: Implications of a Possible PRC Growth Slowdown on Asia
• ADBI Annual Conference: Global Uncertainty, Macroeconomic Shocks and Growth in Asia
• Conference: Infrastructure Quality and Financing

Selected Key Publications

• Pacific Opportunities: Leveraging Asia’s Growth
• Connecting South Asia and Southeast Asia
• Managing the Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy: Perspectives, Policies, and Practices from Asia

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ADBI in the Media