Asia Regional Integration Center

Featuring high-level discussions on emerging issues in Asia, the 2007 Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference was successfully held last weekend in Hainan, PRC with the theme "Asia Winning in Today's Global Economy - Innovation & Sustainable Development. ADB Vice President C. Lawrence Greenwood moderated the ADB-sponsored session on "Accelerating Asian Growth: the Evolution of the Asian Economic Community" and was a panelist in the session on "Pakistan: Transregional Hub, Linking Asia to the Middle East and Beyond". Read the Joint ADB-BFA Annual Report on Regional Cooperation and Integration.

The April issue of the Asia Bond Monitor was launched in Hong Kong, China by OREI Head Jong-Wha Lee, who also addressed a high level roundtable discussion on securitization in Asia organized by ADB, The Asset Magazine, and Asian Institute of International Financial Law of Hong Kong University. The report highlights securitization in East Asia. Structured finance in emerging East Asia holds the potential to become a significant funding tool for regional development. Read the full report.

South Asia’s unprecedented growth, averaging close to 6 percent per year since the 1990s, has created a new momentum for closer regional integration, according to a feature story on South Asia: Growth and Regional Integration published ahead of the 14th SAARC Summit. Read more.

Senior officials from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, People's Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are participating in CAREC's learning program, New Ventures in Regional Cooperation, covering regional cooperation, global value chains, private public partnerships, and electricity trading. The learning program is the inaugural activity of the CAREC capacity development program.

The 19th edition of Asian Development Outlook examines trends and prospects in Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, in the context of global economic movements. It throws a spotlight on a variety of structural issues in developing Asia, discussing prospects over the next few decades which will depend on how the region responds and adapts to a constantly changing environment. Read more.

Senior officials from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, People's Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan; and representatives of partner multilateral institutions (ADB, EBRD, IMF, IsDB, UNDP, and World Bank) will meet on 26-27 March to discuss CAREC regional strategies in transport, energy, and trade. The meeting will be preceded by a CAREC Trade Policy Coordinating Committee Meeting on 24 March. A senior officials learning program, New Ventures in Regional Cooperation, will follow on 29-30 March.

Professor Richard E. Baldwin's paper entitled Managing the Noodle Bowl: The Fragility of East Asian Regionalism argues that East Asian regionalism is fragile and talks about a "New East Asian Regional Management Effort" with a reinforced ASEAN+3 leading the way. The first priority is to bind the region’s unilateral tariff cuts into the WTO. Read more.

Beginning 1 March 2007, Mr. Jong-Wha Lee assumes the position as ADB’s Head of the Office of Regional Economic Integration (OREI). Mr. Lee, a national of the Republic of Korea, obtained his Ph.D. and master’s in Economics from Harvard University, USA, and his master’s and bachelor in Economics from Korea University in Seoul. He has over 20 years of professional experience as an economist and academic and has most recently been Director of the International Center for Korean Studies and a Professor of Economics at Korea University.