Innovating and Strengthening Collective Action

is the first of five webinars organized by multilateral development banks (MDBs) supporting their joint Report on Regional Cooperation and Integration: Responding to the Covid-19 Pandemic and “Building Back Better” in Asia and the Pacific.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) through Regional Cooperation and Integration Thematic Group (SDTC-RCI) are hosting the webinar on 31 March 2021. The purpose of this webinar is to:

(i) report critical trends and findings of the Region’s commitment and actions on cross-border collective action (CBCA);
(ii) reflect on how the five MDBs supported effective responses to the COVID-19 emergency and the preparation of the medium-term recovery;
(iii) solicit stakeholders’ views and validations of identified vital lessons and how they inform and guide future cross-border cooperation and collective action; and
(iv) solicit stakeholders’ feedback on development partners’ support to the post-COVID-19 recovery and the roles of MDBs to adding value.

The discussion’s focus will be on three established subregional cooperation programs (i.e., Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation, CAREC; Greater Mekong Subregion, GMS; and South Asian Subregional Economic Cooperation, SASEC) and one regional organization from the Pacific subregion (The Pacific Community, SPC).

The main target stakeholders for the webinar include (i) Asia-Pacific policymakers and senior officials of national and regional public sector organizations involved in RCI; (ii) economic and sector/thematic specialists with responsibilities for RCI knowledge generation, policy dialogue, and investments in Asia-Pacific; (iii) private sector leaders in the Region; and (iv) multilateral, bilateral and civil society organizations that are supporting RCI in the Region.

The outcomes of the webinar will inform the content of the MDBs’ joint report.