ADB, UNESCAP Discuss Initiatives To Help Region Address COVID-19

By Linda Khoo BANGKOK, June 4 (Bernama) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP) on Wednesday discussed initiatives to help the region in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. UNESCAP executive secretary Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana said supporting its member countries build back better after COVID-19 lies at the heart of both ADB and UNESCAP agendas. “I am looking forward to deepening our cooperation to get our region’s economies and societies back on their feet in a way that protects our region’s precious environmental resources – very much including our oceans,” she said in a statement. ADB president Masatsugu Asakawa said the bank and UNESCAP must seek further synergies by combining knowledge, networks, and finance to help to develop Asia address health, social, and economic crises caused by COVID-19. “Our continued cooperation is now more important than ever,” he said. Earlier, ADB announced a US$20 billion (RM85.3 billion) assistance package to address the needs of its developing member countries as they responded to the COVID-19 pandemic on April 13. ADB’s most recent assessment, released on April 3, estimated the pandemic would slash the global Gross Domestic Product by between 2.3 per cent and 4.8 per cent. Regional growth, meanwhile, is forecast to decline from 5.2 per cent last year to 2.2 per cent in 2020. -- BERNAMA