The Asian Development Bank has announced that China is contributing US$20 million to set up a technical assistance fund approved by the bank to promote regional cooperation and poverty reduction among developing Asian countries.

The bank described the Regional Cooperation and Poverty Reduction Fund as the first such fund to be set up by a developing member country of the bank and the first financed by China with any international institution.

The fund aims to promote faster economic and social development in Asia by financing regional cooperation and poverty reduction initiatives, said the bank.

All the bank's developing member countries will be eligible for grants supporting regional cooperation under the fund, although priority will be given to members of the Greater Mekong subregion and Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation program, said the bank.

For country specific projects, all Asian Development Fund eligible countries can apply to the fund for support.

Philip Erquiaga, principal director of the bank's Office of Co-financing Operations, said the fund will "encourage innovation and learning in support of research, policy-related studies, capacity building and institutional development in developing member countries, and will pilot innovative approaches to knowledge dissemination and networking."

Over the next five years, the fund will encourage greater sharing of knowledge and experience on regional cooperation and poverty reduction across developing Asia.

It will support countries in professionally managed, comprehensive benchmarking of their regional cooperation and poverty reduction efforts, learning from those that have achieved excellence in these areas, and helping to set appropriate performance measures and realistic targets for improvement.

(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2005)