Development Asia features development issues important to the Asia and Pacific region. It is published twice a year by the Asian Development Bank and Pressgroup Holdings Europe S.A.

SPECIAL REPORT: Regional Cooperation and Integration 
Can a United Asia Overcome a Global Crisis?
Analysts see no clear sign of consensus on a structure for Asian regionalism.

Asia Lacks Political Will to Support Regionalism
Interview with Toyoo Gyohten, President of Japan’s Institute for International Monetary Affairs, talks of the future of cooperation.

Fighting Piracy in the Malacca Strait
The transformation of this once-perilous sea lane into one of the world’s safest and most important shipping routes is an unsung success story of regional cooperation in Asia.

Will ASEAN’s New Charter Bring Greater Cooperation?
The group plans to become a European Union–style community by 2015, minus a common currency.

Asia and Europe: Comparing Approaches to Regionalism
Different challenges, similar experiences are highlighted in this analysis of regional unions.

Asian Aerospace Preparing for Takeoff
Industrial cooperation in aerospace could boost regional development.

Download Development Asia, April 2009

PDF format, 5.8MB, 52Pages.

FEATURES
Slumdog Millionaire Puts Slum Tourism in the Spotlight
For 400 rupees, one can take a half-day tour of Mumbai’s Dharavi slum.
Investors Save Lives and Make Money with Vaccine Bonds
Raising $4 billion could help immunize 500 million people.
Hitting at the Heart of Asia's Development
By 2010, WHO estimates that the majority of the world’s heart patients will be Asians.
Economic Crisis Hits Asia's Children Hard
Years of progress in poverty alleviation, child survival, and education attainment are in peril.

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Testing the Strength of Asian Regionalism

The global economic crisis has swept across Asia and brought into sharp focus attempts by nations to cooperate and to integrate their economies. In many ways, the financial crisis of the late 1990s led to the formation of regional cooperation mechanisms to stabilize markets and currencies in times of turmoil. Now these initiatives are being tested.

In the third edition of Development Asia, William Branigin, a Washington Post staff writer and the newspaper’s former Southeast Asia bureau chief for more than a decade, explores the impact of the global economic crisis on Asian economic cooperation. The insights are compelling.

In addition, this edition looks at one of the unsung success stories of regional cooperation in Asia: the victory over piracy in the Malacca Strait. What was once one of the world’s most dangerous shipping lanes is now patrolled by coordinated forces from the three nations surrounding the Strait—Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. As a result, only two attempts to plunder booty were reported last year, and both were unsuccessful.

Our examination of the issues associated with Asian regional cooperation also includes an analysis of the evolution of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as a regional grouping, and what Asia can learn from the economic and political integration of the European Union.

Jenny Forster, a longtime journalist in Asia, and a new contributor to Development Asia, takes readers on a walk through an Indian slum. Triggered by the huge success of the movie Slumdog Millionaire, slum tourism has been booming. Jenny talks to people on both sides of the contentious issue.

This edition also looks at the innovative use of bonds to finance vaccination campaigns in developing countries. This financing method gives investors a good return on their money, while children throughout Asia, Africa, and elsewhere benefit from lifesaving vaccines. Other feature stories include an examination of the impact on development of heart disease and other noncommunicable diseases.

From Bangkok, we bring you the story of an unconventional Catholic priest who has transformed a one room schoolhouse into one of Thailand’s most dynamic development organizations.

We hope Development Asia triggers discussion and debate on the critical developmental issues highlighted in this edition. What’s more, we hope you will share your thoughts, observations, and suggestions with us by e-mail at editor@development.asia.

Enjoy!
Ann Quon
Publisher

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