ASIA 2015 Conference
Promoting Growth, Ending Poverty

9.15am - Session Three
REALISING THE POTENTIAL FOR POVERTY REDUCTION

Chair:
Nemat Shafik, Director General, Regional Programmes, Department for International Development, UK

9.15am Keynote Speech
HE Dr Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Finance, Indonesia

With perspectives from
Bina Agarwal, Professor of Economics, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University

Key Issues: The Nature of Poverty in Changing Asia
Asian countries are rising to the challenge of human development by providing increased access to basic services and overcoming deep seated gender inequalities and social exclusion. More needs to be done. Economic growth is generating structural change and patterns of urban and rural development that are leading to growing inequality and a concentration of poverty in some areas. What can stakeholders do to address this? What are the possible policy responses and options for partnership with development agencies?

10.00am - 12.15pm: Thematic Parallel Groups
Discussion of the challenges and responses, including future partnerships.

Parallel Group 3A: Regional Disparities, Poverty and Exclusion
In spite of the Asian economic success story, some regions/states/provinces, and some communities, have not shared in the benefits. Poorer regions are often geographically isolated and are excluded from access to public services. Some policies are better at connecting less developed regions, poor communities and socially excluded groups with the growth story.

1) What policies and interventions have been most effective in ensuring that lagging regions and poor communities benefit from growth?
2) What policies and interventions have been most successful in reducing gender inequalities and social exclusion and why?
3) Which level of government – central, state, regional, local – has been most effective in reducing exclusion and poverty, and why?
4) What are the practical next steps for partnerships?

Chair:
Samira Ahmed, Channel 4 News

Presenter:
Professor Amitabh Kundu, Centre for the Study of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Panel:
Rashida Chowdhury, Executive Director, Campaign for Popular Education, Bangladesh
Professor Dr Cai Fang, Director, Institute of Population and Labour Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China
Dr Ifzal Ali, Chief Economist, Asian Development Bank
Suleman Ghani, Chairman, Planning and Development Board, Punjab, Pakistan

Parallel Group 3B: Targets, Voice and Choice - Effective Service Delivery for Human Development
In the long term, sustained economic growth will deliver better lives. Increased investment in human capital now will trigger and sustain growth by enabling poor and excluded groups, including women, to participate in new economic opportunities. Current high levels of spend on health care by poor people can increase vulnerability and reverse the rate of poverty reduction brought about by high growth. Delivering basic services to excluded groups can break the vicious cycle of inequality, insecurity and conflict.

1) How can countries finance basic service delivery (health, education, water, sanitation) to provide access to all? (Is there a role for cash transfers or other specific mechanisms for poor and excluded groups?)
2) How well do governments (at different levels) ensure quality, equity and impact of services delivered by both state and non-state providers?
3) How best can states and service providers be accountable to their service users and communities?
4) Do Asian countries face similar or different problems and how can Asian countries learn from each other? (And what mechanisms can be put in place to facilitate this?)
5) If service delivery reform is so political, what role can donors play?

Chair:
HE Mr M Saifur Rahman, Minister of Finance, Bangladesh

Presenter:
Shantayanan Devarajan, Chief Economist, South Asia Region, World Bank

Panel:
Professor Zhang Xiulan, Director, Institute of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University, China,
Fazle Hassan Abed, Chairman, BRAC
Vrinda Sarup, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Human Resources Development, India
HE Mr Hang Chuon Naron, Secretary-General, Finance, Cambodia
Dr Shankar Prasad Sharma, Vice Chairman, National Planning Commission, Nepal

Parallel Group 3C: Asian-led Strategies for Improving Governance and the Effectiveness of State Institutions
Poverty reduction needs effective state institutions but achieving improvements can be difficult. Strategies that are developed and led by Asian governments and focused on specific issues (such as public financial management) can make progress, especially where there is pressure for improvement from stakeholders.

1) What factors make a state effective in reducing poverty?
2) What are the challenges and lessons from Asia for improving governance and tackling corruption in order to promote growth, and reduce poverty and inequality?
3) What is the role of government, civil society, the private sector, donors and regional institutions in supporting governance reforms?

Chair:
Shekhar Gupta, Editor, Indian Express

Presenter:
Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, Director of Power and Participation Research Centre, Bangladesh.
View the PowerPoint Presentation

Panel:
Daniyal Aziz, Chairman, National Reconstruction Bureau, Pakistan
Hu Shuli, Editor, Caijing magazine
Ton Nu Thi Ninh, Vice Chair, Foreign Affairs Committee, National Assembly, Vietnam
Dr Harbrinderjit Singh Dillon, Executive Director of Partnership of Governance Reform in Indonesia
Klaus Gerhaeusser, Chair of the Governance Committee, Asian Development Bank

Read conference papers for Session Three
Read parallel session guidance notes for discussions

12:15pm Plenary: Chair's Summary of Session Three

12.45pm - Lunch

1.30pm - Session Four
WHERE NEXT? SETTING THE AGENDA FOR PARTNERSHIPS TO 2015

Chair:
Suma Chakrabarti, Permanent Secretary, Department for International Development, UK

Keynote Speeches
Dr Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, Office of the Prime Minister, Bangladesh
Dr Kirit S Parikh, Union Minister of State, Government of India

2.45pm Plenary discussion
(To be split into two halves addressing these questions. Refreshment break from 3.30-4.40pm.)
1) What are our shared priorities for partnerships to build on Asia's successes?
2) Next steps: how do we take these partnerships forward?

Moderator:
Simon Maxwell, Director, Overseas Development Institute

Panel:
HE Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Finance, Indonesia
Dr Ho Quang Minh, Director General, Foreign Economic Relations Department, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietnam
Hina Rabbani Khar, Minister for Economic Affairs, Pakistan
HE Mr Chhieng Yanara, Deputy Secretary General, Council for the Development of Cambodia
Rajat Gupta, Senior Partner Worldwide, McKinsey & Company
Dr Ifzal Ali, Chief Economist, Asian Development Bank
Praful Patel, Vice President South Asia Region, World Bank
Hafiz Pasha, Regional Director, United Nations Development Programme
HE Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General, United Nations Conference for Trade and Development
James Moran, Acting Director, Asia, European Commission
Gareth Thomas MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for International Development, UK
Dr Harsha V Singh, Deputy Director General, World Trade Organisation
Sumio Kusaka, Deputy Director General of International Bureau, Ministry of Finance, Japan
Salil Shetty, Director, Millennium Campaign, United Nations

Read conference papers for Session Four
Read parallel session guidance notes for discussions

4.45pm - Chair's Summary of Session Four

5.00 pm - Closing Statements

Haruhiko Kuroda, President, Asian Development Bank
Praful Patel, Vice President, South Asia Region, World Bank
The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State, Department for International Development, UK

5.30pm Conference ends