Trade has been a key tool for driving growth and poverty reduction in Asia and should be expanded and improved so the benefits are shared by all economies in the region, Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday.
“We must close the gap between Asia’s surging economies and those mired in poverty by isolation, limited resources, miniscule trade and inadequate finance,” Kuroda said at the 2011 Third Global Review Meeting of Aid for Trade in Geneva, Switzerland, according to a statement released on ADB’s website. “Better strategies are called for along with more aid for trade.”
The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Aid for Trade Initiative, launched in 2005, helps developing countries build the infrastructure and trade-related skills needed to benefit from existing WTO agreements. ADB has been a key participant since 2006, co-hosting three regional review meetings, as well as acting as a secretariat for the Regional Technical Group on Aid for Trade for the Asia-Pacific.
“The challenge is to make Asia’s development more equitable and inclusive,” Kuroda said. ADB’s experience suggests there are large returns where there is political commitment and effective donor coordination.
Kuroda said ADB is also keen to pass on its aid for trade experiences to other regions and last June reached an agreement to share trade finance documentation and know-how with the African Development Bank. “ADB’s 45 years of development experience has revealed what works and where we should be heading,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 19th, 2011.
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