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High-profile world confce on Asia in London early March
FE Report
1/23/2006
Policymakers from across the Asian region are expected to flock to the British capital of London in early March to attend a two-day international conference on Asia.
The conference styled "Asia 2015-promoting growth, ending poverty" is aimed at brainstorming the development needs of poorer nations of Asia.
The Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom (UK) in collaboration with the World Bank will sponsor the conference, scheduled for March 06-07, DFID officials said.
The high-profile conference is being designed in a way so that it could help the least-developed countries of Asian region grab a significant chunk from the global aid pie, already committed by the developed world, they added.
The conference is being convened by British premier Tony Blair who was also instrumental in mobilising global support to cancel around US$40 billion in debts owed by 18 African nations in the latest G-8 meeting.
Representatives of private sector and civil society will also be invited to take part in the meeting.
"The conference builds on a series of events in 2005 that put Africa at the top of the international development agenda," says a letter of head of DFID David Wood forwarded to the government. The G-8 summit held out pledge to raise the level of monetary assistance by US$50 billion by 2010, of which 25 billion will go to Africa.
The possible agenda of the conference included, among other issues, jacking up the quantity and quality of aid, greater trade access, investment in infrastructure, governance and improving the investment climate.
Dhaka is likely to seek more aid commitment from the UK to implement its three-year anti-poverty plan, Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and finance infrastructure projects, officials said.
It will also urge upon the UK to make sure that aid is channelled through the country-led PRSP process, with flexible and relaxed conditions.
The Asia 2015 conference will provide the government with an opportunity to press the donor community to redress the balance and pay equal attention to the development problems of the Asia region, says a document of the DFID.
"This should reflect a mature relations between the international development community and Asian governments, which involves accepting mutual obligations in a partnership aimed at achieving the MDGs and building upon successes accomplished so far in the region".
The DFID recognised that additional aid will enable the Bangladesh government to scale up its existing programmes, such as education stipends and the PRSP.
The UK's development agency also pointed out that the governments in Asia need to provide the right environment for private sector-led growth in porder to stimulate investment.
According to the DFID, it requires a commitment to good governance, and macro-economic stability, cutting red tapism and fostering a well-functioning financial sector.
This conference represents an opportunity to define the actions that Asian governments and external partners can commit to in order to eradicate poverty in the region.
Such commitments to action could usefully be informed by highlighting examples of successful reform in key policy areas from within the region, says the DFID.
British Finance Minister Gordon Brown at a February meeting of the Group of Eight industrialised nations proposed increasing aid to developing nations to $100 billion annually through the finance facility.
But the latest G-8 summit endorsed a plan to increase aid by $50 billion by 2010.
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