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| TA Name | Support for South Asia Regional Economic Cooperation | |||
| Country | Regional | |||
| Project Number | 37549- 01 | |||
| Fund Source/Amount[Proposed] |
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| Thematic Classification |
Regional Cooperation
Economic growth |
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| Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy |
The Regional Cooperation Strategy and Program (RCSP) for South Asia (2006-2008) has five key operational objectives: (i) improve connectivity; (ii) facilitate trade and investment; (iii) develop regional tourism; (iv) facilitate cooperation in energy; and (v) promote private sector cooperation. In line with these key operational objectives, ADB has been supporting regional cooperation through the South Asian Association Regional Cooperation (SAARC), interregional cooperation through the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), and subregional cooperation through the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Program. ADB has been supporting regional initiatives in transport, energy, ICT, and tourism, among others. ADB has also provided support for networking among think tanks to provide governments with policy recommendations on regional cooperation and integration issues (the track 2 approach). ADB also critically supports national projects with regional implications or that have the potential to make a contribution to regional development.
During the High Level Forum on Emerging Vision for Shared Prosperity: South Asia and Beyond, held on 16-17 April 2009, participants recognized the importance of a flexible, pragmatic, multi-track approach to advance regional cooperation in South Asia with a focus on fast-tracking the implementation of tangible regional investment projects. The Forum also identified options through which ADB could support regional cooperation in South Asis and beyond, including: (i) regional and interregional projects; (ii) subregional projects involving more than 2 countries; and (iii) bilateral projects. Previous experience with subregional projects in South Asia also shows that undertaking cross-border/multilateral agreements consumes time and needs to involve various stakeholders. To expedite regional cooperation to support broader economic growth, ADB has committed at least 30% of its overall operations for regional cooperation by 2020 (under ADB's Strategy 2020). In line with this commitment, this TA will support participating countries and regional organizations in further identfying, prioritizing, and preparing regional projects and will help participating countries move forward in regional cooperation agenda in South Asia. |
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| Impact | Accelerated pro-poor economic growth in South Asian countries and its neighbors through (i) improved regional infrastructure; (ii) increased movement of goods, services, information and people, and (iii) strengthened cooperation in addressing regional issues. This will be gauged by the number of regional initiatives implemented each year, the increase movement of goods, services, information and people across national borders; the increased flow of trade and investment across South Asia; and poverty reduction, particularly in border areas. | |||
| Outcome | The envisaged outcomes is enriched regional cooperation activities through the more timely implementation of regional projects, increased awareness and strengthened support for regional cooperation, and enhanced institutional capacity at the country and regional levels in promoting and managing regional activities and projects. The achievement of this outcome will be measured by (i) reviewing the number of regional projects identified, prioritized, and prepared along the priority areas; and (ii) assessing the extent regional cooperation issues are discussed, and regional cooperation programs/projects are prioritized by countries and regional bodies based on the contents of national development plans and agendas of high level regional meetings and conferences. | |||
| Outputs and Timeframe |
Identification and Prioritization of Regional Projects
Output 1. List of priority regional projects and national projects with regional implications being prepared for implementation Output 2: Sector and country work programs Knowledge Management Output 3. Studies and papers on strategic and emerging issues Output 4. Conference and forums for various stakeholders Output 5. Semi-annual Newsletter/progress reports Capacity Development Output 6. Capacity Development Workshops and Seminars for policy makers and technical experts |
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| Geographical Location | Member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) will be the core participating countries. | |||
| Stakeholder Participation and Consultation | The High-Level Forum on Emerging Vision for Shared Prosperity: South Asia and Beyond was held on 16-17 April 2009. Secretaries and senior officials of Finance and Foreign Ministries of South Asian and neighboring countries participated and discussed the vision, priorities, broad approaches, and next steps for promoting regional cooperation in South Asia and beyond. Following the Forum, ADB held consultations with the Governments of South Asian countries, to further discuss (i) the process and operational framework for developing and implementing regional and subregional projects; (ii) potential priority regional projects; and (iii) the scope of this proposed regional technical assistance. These meetings led to a general support of the proposed RETA by the Governments. | |||
| Procurement | ||||
| Consulting Services | A total of 133 person-months of consultancy services will be engaged for this TA. Of the 133 person-months, a total of 108 person-months of consultancy services will be needed for 3 national consultants who will be based in ADB Headquarters. The national consultants will be engaged as (i) regional cooperation advisor; (ii) senior regional cooperation specialist; and (iii) senior programs analyst/regional cooperation expert. They will provide technical and logistical inputs and assistance to TA-related activities. National consultants who will be In-country regional cooperation specialist(s) will be engaged in resident mission(s) for 12 person-months each while 13 person-months of international consultancy will be required fro thematic experts and capacity development specialists. Consultants will be engaged in accordance with the Guidelines on the Use of Consultants. | |||
| Responsible ADB Officer |
Newin Sinsiri |
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| Responsible ADB Department |
South Asia Department |
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| Responsible ADB Division |
Country Coordination and Regional Cooperation Division, SARD |
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| Timetable | ||||
| Fact-finding | I Nov 2009 to II Nov 2009 | |||
| Approval | IV Jan 2010 | |||
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