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Asian Development Bank Support for Regional Cooperation and Integration

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Asian Development Bank Support for Regional Cooperation and Integration Thematic Asian Development Bank Evaluation Support for Regional Study Cooperation and Integration Independent Evaluation Thematic Evaluation Study October 2015 Asian Development Bank Support for Regional Cooperation and Integration This document is being disclosed to the public in accordance with ADB's Public Communications Policy 2011. Reference Number: SES: REG 2015‐11 Independent Evaluation: TS‐07 NOTE In this report, “$” refers to US dollars. Director General V. Thomas, Independent Evaluation Department (IED) Director B. Finlayson, Independent Evaluation Division 2, IED Team leader M. Gatti, Principal Evaluation Specialist, IED Team members F. Ahmed, Lead Evaluation Specialist, IED N. Subramaniam, Principal Evaluation Specialist, IED S. Palle Venkata, Evaluation Specialist, IED L. N. Guevara, Evaluation Officer, IED R. Isidro-Cajilig, Senior Evaluation Assistant, IED Independent Evaluation Department, TS-07 The guidelines formally adopted by the Independent Evaluation Department (IED) on avoiding conflict of interest in its independent evaluations were observed in the preparation of this report. To the knowledge of IED, there were no conflicts of interest of the persons preparing, reviewing, or approving this report. In preparing any evaluation report, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, IED does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. Abbreviations ADB – Asian Development Bank ADBI – Asian Development Bank Institute ADF – Asian Development Fund ARIC – Asian Regional Integration Center ASEAN – Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN+3 – Association of Southeast Asian Nations, People’s Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea BIMP-EAGA – Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area BIMSTEC – Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation BPMSD – Budget, Personnel, and Management Systems Department CAPE – country assistance performance evaluation CAREC – Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation CWRD – Central and West Asia Department CoP – community of practice CPS – country partnership strategy EARD – East Asia Department ERCD – Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department FTA – free trade agreement GMS – Greater Mekong Subregion IED – Independent Evaluation Department IMF – International Monetary Fund IMT-GT – Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle Lao PDR – Lao People’s Democratic Republic MDB – multilateral development bank MTR – Medium-Term Review of Strategy 2020 OCO – Office of Cofinancing Operations OCR – ordinary capital resources OREI – Office of Regional Economic Integration PARD – Pacific Department PCR – project completion report PPER – project or program performance evaluation report PRC – People’s Republic of China PSOD – Private Sector Operations Department PVR – project completion validation report RCAPE – regional country assistance performance evaluation RCI – regional cooperation and integration RCIF – Regional Cooperation and Integration Fund RCIFPF – Regional Cooperation and Integration Financing Partnership Facility RCIS – regional cooperation and integration strategy RCP – regional cooperation policy RCS – regional cooperation strategy RPG – regional public good RRP – report and recommendation of the President RSAPE – regional sector assistance performance evaluation RSDD – Regional and Sustainable Development Department SARD – South Asia Department SASEC – South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation SERD – Southeast Asia Department SWOT – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats TA – technical assistance TES – thematic evaluation study WPBF – work program and budget framework WTO – World Trade Organization Contents Page Acknowledgments ix Foreword xi Executive summary xiii Management Response xxiii Chair's Summary: Development Effectiveness Committee xxv Chapter 1: Introduction 1 A. Purpose and Rationale 1 B. Terms and Definitions 1 C. Objectives and Scope 2 D. Approach, Methodology, and Limitations 2 E. Organization of the Report 3 Chapter 2: Global and Regional Overview 4 A. Global Overview 4 B. Regional Overview 7 Chapter 3: ADB’s Regional Cooperation and Integration Agenda 12 A. Rationale for Regional Cooperation and Integration 12 B. Launch and Evolution 12 C. Regional Cooperation and Integration Strategy 14 D. Subregional Cooperation Programs 17 E. Strategy 2020 and Its Midterm Reviews 18 F. Other Relevant Evaluations 19 Chapter 4: Addressing the Needs of RCI Stakeholders 20 A. Coherence of the RCI Agenda’s Policies and Strategies 20 B. Relevance of the RCIS Design 22 C. Relevance of Other RCI Features 24 D. Consistency with Countries’ Expectations 26 E. Conformity with International Good Practices 30 Chapter 5: Enabling Environment for the RCI Agenda 33 A. Strategic Response 33 B. Organizational Response 39 Chapter 6: Results: Operations, Performance, and Value Addition 48 A. RCI Operations 48 B. RCI Performance 58 C. Impacts 64 D. Value Addition by RCI Roles 66 Chapter 7: Overall Assessment 69 Chapter 8: Looking Forward: Enhancing ADB’s RCI Agenda 71 A. Comparative Untapped RCI Potential in Asia and the Pacific 71 B. Future RCI Considerations 72 C. Strategic Options 76 D. Proposed Framework for the RCI Agenda 76 Chapter 9: Findings, Issues, and Recommendations 79 A. Findings 79 B. Key Issues 80 C. Recommendations 81 Appendix: List of Linked Documents and Supplementary Appendixes 84 Acknowledgments This thematic evaluation study was prepared by the Independent Evaluation team including Marco Gatti (team leader), Farzana Ahmed, Nathan Subramaniam, Srinivasan Palle Venkata, Lawrence Nelson Guevara, and Rosel A. Isidro-Cajilig. Tomoo Ueda and Benjamin Graham provided internal peer review comments, and Michael Diza assisted with the cover design. The team worked under the guidance of Director General Vinod Thomas and Director Bob Finlayson. Valuable contributions were made by consultants Isabelita Alba, Magdalena Casuga, Brahm Prakash, Joselito Supangco, Nurmambet Toktomatov, Rolf Westling, and Bingfang Zhong. David Green and Montague Lord served as external peer reviewers. Interns Dominik Naeher and Jisun Yi provided significant contributions. The team thanks the management and staff of ADB, including members of the Regional Cooperation and Integration Community of Practice, for their interactions and feedback. The team also thanks the ADB resident mission staff, ADB representative office staff, government officials, and many other country representatives who made themselves available during missions in Bangladesh, the Fiji Islands, India, Japan, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nepal, the People’s Republic of China, the United States, Uzbekistan, and Viet Nam. Independent Evaluation remains fully responsible for this report. Foreword The rapid growth in much of developing Asia has reduced income poverty and moved many countries to middle-income status. To continue advancing, however, the region must tackle the increasingly complex challenges of, among others, slowing economic growth, rising inequality, runaway climate change, and weak governance. The promotion of the regional cooperation and integration (RCI) agenda, a corporate- level strategic agenda of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is recognized as having helped in fostering economic growth and addressing development challenges. One rationale behind the RCI theme lies in the benefits that can accrue from operating in larger markets due to economies of scale. Equally important, the RCI process has the potential to promote social stability, peace, and security, which are conducive to improved governance and better economic performance. The potentially win-win characteristic of gains for the cooperating entities lies at the center of this process. The RCI agenda has considerable potential to bring out the strengths of ADB as a development partner and contributing to country outcomes. The evaluation found that ADB has made progress in mainstreaming the RCI agenda and undertaking RCI work. Various ADB departments have contributed to the RCI agenda, even as it was not a fully integrated or well-coordinated effort. Success rates for projects labelled as RCI have been above the average for all ADB supported projects, even though RCI projects are typically more complex than non-RCI ones. Key stakeholders in ADB countries’ governments and development partners have given ADB good marks for its RCI work. There are crucial gaps and areas for improvement that must be addressed, especially in view of the vast potential for engaging in the RCI agenda. The evaluation found that the enabling environment for the mainstreaming of the RCI agenda had important weaknesses that can be dealt with. There is good justification for broadening the RCI agenda to work on issues beyond cross-border infrastructure—especially on matters of trade and investment integration, monetary and financial integration, regional public goods, notably climate change and biodiversity—as well as for deepening the RCI agenda to address the needs of some of the countries that are currently receiving inadequate attention. The recommendations of this thematic evaluation are to broaden the RCI agenda beyond cross-border infrastructure (while maintaining the latter); deepen it with attention to fragile, island and linchpin countries; strengthen coordination across and within subregions; bolster country ownership for RCI; and develop new RCI project
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