Two-thirds of the world's poor live in Asia. The major objective for the region, therefore, must be to reduce poverty. It has become clear in the wake of the crisis that the public sector can no longer shoulder the burden of financing pro-poor growth alone. At the same time, it is also clear that official aid flows throughout the world, and particularly in Asia, have been declining since the middle of the 1990s. Therefore, the private sector must be encouraged to provide at least part of the financing. This is the major message of the book. Two ways of achieving this are proposed. One is to attract more foreign direct investment and portfolio investment, rather than to rely on borrowing, to reduce financial vulnerability. The other is to promote partnerships between the state and the private sector, rather than simply to privatise the more lucrative branches of publicly owned and operated services. This book, co-edited by the OECD Development Centre and the Asian Development Bank, presents an original and comprehensive approach to the problem of obtaining support for maintaining development projects in the wake of the global financial crisis. The book brings together varied and complementary opinions from participants -- from the worlds of business, finance, government, academia and the media -- in the sixth annual International Forum on Asian Perspectives, held in Paris in July 2000. Sustainable Recovery in Asia: Mobilising Resources for Development constitutes a reference work on Asia and provides an excellent basis for policy advice for governments and policy makers.
