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ADB, WB to strengthen co-operation

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank and the World Bank have agreed to strengthen co-operation in order to assist more effectively developing member-countries in Asia and the Pacific.

The two banks account for a significant portion of public flows to Asia and represent the majority of ODA (official development assistance) to lower-income countries. This places a responsibility on both institutions to co-ordinate activities and optimise their services to developing members countries.

Senior managers of the ADB and the World Bank held meetings in 1999 to examine how to strengthen their relationship, and endorsed annual meetings of their senior management teams, to review the co-operation process and consider joint initiatives, and other areas of collaboration.

They also agreed on holding annual meetings of World Bank country directors and ADB programmes/project directors for country-level discussions and review the programmes.

Regular consultations between senior management of the two institutions, followed by joint reports to staff will also be held.

The two banks will strengthen co-ordination in preparing country assistance strategies/country operations and strategy papers, and ensure their complementarity, particularly for small, low-income countries with limited absorptive capacities. Enhanced co-ordination will also be sought in developing regional and global strategic initiatives. APP