The Asian Development Bank has announced that China is
contributing US$20 million to set up a technical assistance fund
approved by the bank to promote regional cooperation and poverty
reduction among developing Asian countries.
The bank described the Regional Cooperation and Poverty
Reduction Fund as the first such fund to be set up by a developing
member country of the bank and the first financed by China with any
international institution.
The fund aims to promote faster economic and social development
in Asia by financing regional cooperation and poverty reduction
initiatives, said the bank.
All the bank's developing member countries will be eligible for
grants supporting regional cooperation under the fund, although
priority will be given to members of the Greater Mekong subregion
and Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation program, said the
bank.
For country specific projects, all Asian Development Fund
eligible countries can apply to the fund for support.
Philip Erquiaga, principal director of the bank's Office of
Co-financing Operations, said the fund will "encourage innovation
and learning in support of research, policy-related studies,
capacity building and institutional development in developing
member countries, and will pilot innovative approaches to knowledge
dissemination and networking."
Over the next five years, the fund will encourage greater
sharing of knowledge and experience on regional cooperation and
poverty reduction across developing Asia.
It will support countries in professionally managed,
comprehensive benchmarking of their regional cooperation and
poverty reduction efforts, learning from those that have achieved
excellence in these areas, and helping to set appropriate
performance measures and realistic targets for improvement.
(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2005)