This report shows how improving gender mainstreaming via the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program Strategic Framework 2030 (GMS-2030) can bolster inclusivity and ensure women benefit equally from regional cooperation initiatives. Highlighting common barriers hindering women’s participation, it explains how the Gender Strategy Implementation Plan (GSIP) 2025–2030 aims to develop innovative new ways to mainstream gender, explicitly address gender barriers, and tackle pervasi...

This manual provides an overview of climate-driven stressors relevant to transport infrastructure in Central Asia and explores adaptation strategies. Over the next decades, the effects of climate change will likely exert considerable pressure on the transport infrastructure of Central Asia. In response, policymakers and the engineering community need to implement resilient yet sustainable designs and construction solutions. This resource provides technical and practical information to supp...

This report assesses how to finance an extensive overhaul of transport infrastructure in the BIMSTEC subregion, considers the challenges of public and private financing, and outlines how to create an overarching financial framework. Underscoring why strong transport connectivity is critical to regional integration, the report highlights how economic and financial analyses can help fund key economic corridors and transport projects in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, an...

Highlighting the importance of Asia’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs), this report shows how economies can learn from policies employed by the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States (US) to offer SMEs the credit they need to thrive. With SMEs making up some 96% of all Asian businesses, the report explains the challenges they commonly face and analyzes the impact of specialized financing facilities in the ROK and the US. It offers a study of public institutional approaches toward...

Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2024, the 55th edition of this series, includes the most recently available economic, financial, social, and environmental indicators for the 49 regional members of the Asian Development Bank. It presents the latest key statistics on development issues concerning the economies of Asia and the Pacific to a broad audience, including policymakers, development practitioners, government officials, researchers, students, and the general public. Section I o...

This report introduces the Global Integration Index, which assesses the progress of globalization across traditional areas, such as trade, investment and institutional arrangements, and includes new areas of digital connectivity and environmental cooperation. Building on ADB’s framework to measure progress in regional cooperation and integration, the index confirms Asia’s deeper global economic linkages, enabling comparison with other regions and across dimensions.

This report examines how existing implementation structures established under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and National Government investment programs could be used to channel subnational government resources toward priority infrastructure investments more effectively. The report considers the legal and institutional issues associated with ADB expanding its subnational partnerships and proposes a number of coordinated engagement frameworks that are aligned with the Papua New Guinea Pub...

The story of Lanka Electricity Company (Pvt) Limited (LECO) of Sri Lanka is how one of the earliest examples of electricity industry reforms in 1983 turned into a landmark example for South Asia and beyond. Homegrown technical innovations, implemented with Asian Development Bank’s support for investments and to improve governance in Sri Lanka’s electricity distribution sector, eventually led to improved performance. Developing an organizational culture that prioritizes meticulous planning,...

This publication presents a detailed review and assessment of the governance, infrastructure, and financing aspects of hospital care in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. Fast demographic growth, poor access to and utilization of health services, an underfunded public health system, and fragmented reform initiatives are among the key challenges in the province. The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa commissioned the Asian Development Bank to conduct the review to aid the creation of a c...

These guidelines describe how a project-level design and monitoring framework should be developed and used throughout the project cycle for Asian Development Bank (ADB) sovereign operations and technical assistance projects. The design and monitoring framework is a key tool for project design, implementation, and evaluation, and provides the basis for ADB’s project performance management system. The guidelines are intended to help staff of ADB, government officers, consultants, project spo...

This report analyzes how Uzbekistan can overhaul its technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to build the digitally-literate, skilled workforce needed to drive business and boost the economy. It offers a rundown of Uzbekistan’s education system and explores how to incorporate technical skills, while making the existing workforce more digitally proficient. It explains how closer private sector ties would make training more relevant. Highlighting the need for comprehensive dat...