At the seminar on “Integration of the capital and finance markets, and harmonisation of management regulations in Asia in a post-crisis environment”, participants discussed the momentums and reasons for the incorporation of capital markets in Asia.

They also debated the need to develop credit and bond markets as well as challenges to harmonising and regulating these markets in order to meet the region’s infrastructural and economic development demands. 

The seminar titled “Climate risk and resilience: securing the region’s future,” examined the threats posed by climate change, discussed water and food security issues in the region and explored strategies to manage those threats. 

Key solutions include scaling up efforts to “climate proof” infrastructure, managing disaster risks such as floods and droughts, and adopting regional food security strategies. 

ADB estimates that a sustained 10 percent rise in domestic food prices in developing Asia, home to 3.3 billion people, could push an additional 64 million people into extreme poverty.

“If we do not fully grasp the interrelated issues of water, food, and climate change and address them head on, we may lose the hard-won gains in our fight against poverty,” said Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, ADB’s Vice President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development. “We must work together to make Asia and the Pacific more resilient to the impacts of climate change and ensure water and food security for all.” 

At the seminar “Bridging the Gap: Catalysing Private Capital for Investment in Infrastructure”, delegates discussed the challenges that developing nations face to mobilise the world’s enormous pools of private savings and what development financing institutions must do to facilitate the flow of this capital. 

The participants agreed that development finance institutions around the world should encourage the greater use of risk-sharing models like public-private partnerships to ensure critical infrastructure gets built in developing countries. The institutions should do that by helping create the right regulatory and market environment and offering risk mitigation instruments to spur private capital. 

ADB estimates Asia and the Pacific alone need US$750 billion per year through 2020 to finance necessary infrastructure. 

The seminar, “Social protection in the Asia Pacific region from the perspectives of workers, the youth, and the aged” looked at how social protection helps to ensure decent work for all, promotes the rights of children and their families, and provides income security and care for the growing ageing populations in the region. 

The global economic crisis coupled with food and fuel price increases, further highlights the need to protect the poor and disadvantaged from unemployment, illness and disability, and natural disasters, said Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, ADB’s Vice President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development. 

On the sidelines of the meeting, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Nguyen Van Giau met with Jaejung Song, ADB Executive Director, and SBV Deputy Governor Dang Thanh Binh had a meeting with Ivo Distelbrink, Managing Director and Head of Global Treasury Services of the Bank of America.