The Asia-Pacific region’s experience with the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of regional cooperation and Integration (RCI) in guiding and leveraging national efforts to fight the disease and initiate recovery.
RCI has played a crucial role in the region’s ongoing efforts to ensure fair and timely access to vaccines and adopt common and mutually safe methods for lifting lockdowns and border restrictions. RCI will play an equally important role in helping the region achieve an inclusive and sustained recovery over the medium term.
Multilateral development banks (MDBs) and other development partners can provide long-term support for investments and collective action for a post-COVID-19 recovery, with RCI as a critical enabler for achieving the international Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). MDBs have mobilized unprecedented resources and technical support to overcome the pandemic at the country-level; they have also helped encourage and enhance collaboration among countries to augment and reinforce national development efforts.
In line with their shared commitment to support the post-COVID-19 recovery and achieve inclusive and sustainable development through RCI, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank Group (WBG) will be launching a joint report entitled
The report aims to support evidence-based RCI dialogue and policymaking by: