The Asian
Development Bank (ADB) has granted US$1.4 million to a technical assistance
project in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), which includes Vietnam, the bank
said in a press release last Friday.
ADB will
give the grant from its Technical Assistance Special Fund to the fourth phase of
the Phnom Penh Plan for Development Management, which is estimated to cost a
total of $1.9 million. China's Regional Cooperation and Poverty Reduction Fund
is providing the rest of the finances.
The plan
was launched at the first summit of Greater Mekong Subregion ministers in Phnom
Penh, Cambodia in 2002. It is designed to give civil servants the skills to
manage and promote regional cooperation and integration.
"GMS
countries need civil servants to manage wide-ranging development programs and to
establish an appropriate policy environment for regional cooperation, but they
have limited capacity to provide such management skills," the Manila-based bank
said in the release.
The fourth
and last phase will provide learning programs a couple of weeks after the
launching of the previous stage. Dialogue sessions will be held to promote
knowledge acquisition, dissemination and networking for GMS development. The
phase will last for more than two years with ADB being the executing agency.
A research
program launched in phase 3 will be continued side by side with phase 4.
So far,
more than 1,365 officials at different levels have participated in the plan.
"Developing
GMS civil servants' capacity in leadership, public policy formulation and
implementation, and development management will enhance the meaningful and
effective participation of GMS governments in regional cooperation initiatives,"
Alfredo Perdiguero, Senior Economist in ADB's Southeast Asia Department, was
quoted as saying in the release.
ADB, 44
years old now, says its mission is to reduce poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.