East Asia Forum 2024

This year’s East Asia Forum (EAF) will explore ways the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) can foster partnerships in addressing regional challenges related to climate change with a special interest in promoting global and regional public goods in ADB’s developing member countries (DMCs).

The forum has four sessions. The first explores strategic ways the PRC and ADB can further evolve their partnership in tackling regional challenges including climate change. The second and third focus on two critical parts of climate as public goods and explore best practices for promoting them. Specifically, Session 2 focuses on nature conservation and ecosystem protection, and how instruments like nature-debt swaps can be a viable financing instrument to help ADB's DMCs meet their commitments to conserve 30% of terrestrial and marine areas by 2030. Session 3 centers on addressing climate mitigation through accelerating the energy transition from fossil fuel-powered energy to clean energy, drawing on international practices related to energy policy, investments, and transition financing. The fourth session discusses how artificial intelligence (AI) can support addressing regional challenges. Specifically, it looks at emerging best practices in strategy, policy, and regulation to enhance the potential benefits of AI while mitigating its potential costs.

In addition to the four sessions, ADB will also launch its publication Echoes of Success: Case Studies in the Replication of Asian Development Bank Projects in the People’s Republic of China. The report presents five ADB-financed projects in the PRC that have been replicated within and outside the country.