ADB-Thailand Partnership Strategy
The country operations business plan (COBP), 2017-2019 for Thailand maintains consistency with the strategic direction and core program areas of country partnership strategy (CPS), 2013-2016, which remains valid until the forthcoming CPS, 2018-2022.
CPS, 2013-2016 is closely aligned with the country's medium-term development framework and longer-term goals. It refines ADB’s position in Thailand through the "finance++" (finance plus leverage plus knowledge) approach, which identified three core strategic directions:
- providing public and private sector financing in a flexible manner,
- helping leverage public and private sector financing, and
- delivering innovative knowledge solutions to accelerate and maximize the country's development effectiveness.
The COBP places emphasis on private sector development, knowledge-based partnership, and the facilitation of regional cooperation and integration, as well as focuses on potential public sector lending.
Thailand has indicated an intention to resume sovereign borrowing from ADB. As a result, ADB's financial support in the education and transport sectors, including traditional and urban rails, is programmed for sovereign lending pipeline under this COBP.
To facilitate regional cooperation and integration, ADB has promoted the Thailand Resident Mission as a sub-regional hub in Southeast Asia given the country’s strategic geopolitical location. Thailand is part of various regional cooperation and integration agreements and has a pipeline of projects through the Greater Mekong Subregion Regional Investment Framework and the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle Implementation Blueprint.
ADB’s financial support in Thailand also includes commercial transactions, not reflected in the COBP, with private sector operations covering infrastructure, including clean energy, transport, agribusiness, and financial sectors.
The Public Communications Policy (PCP) recognizes that transparency and accountability are essential to development effectiveness. It establishes the disclosure requirements for documents and information ADB produces or requires to be produced.
The Accountability Mechanism provides a forum where people adversely affected by ADB-assisted projects can voice and seek solutions to their problems and report alleged noncompliance of ADB's operational policies and procedures.
In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of, or reference to, a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.