Partnership vital to ensuring region's sustainable development, Delhi Summit told
03 Feb '06
3 min read
Partnerships and cooperation among local communities as well as communities of nations must be strengthened if Asia and the Pacific is to achieve sustainable development, a senior ADB official told an environment summit in New Delhi today.
The region's natural resources and environment will increasingly be the focus of partnership efforts, Rajat Nag, Director General of ADB's Mekong Department, told the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) on its opening day.
"How well we have taken care of our environmental infrastructure - air, land, forests, and water - will determine the success and sustainability of our current and future economic development plans," said Mr. Nag, who is also Special Advisor to ADB's President on Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration.
He pointed out that current economic growth rates will have to be maintained - or even boosted - to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, such as halving poverty by 2015. But such growth cannot be sustained given the existing pattern and intensity of natural resource use.
"Natural resources such as energy and water could be the Achilles heel of our development dreams and aspirations," he told the summit.
Solving the region's environmental management problems is not within the means of any single community or country, he stressed. "Therefore, cooperation among stakeholders and countries is necessary for addressing the region's current and emerging development challenges."
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