PRC Poverty Reduction and Regional Cooperation Fund grants $4.95 million USD for 2016 Projects

Project narrative

On 24 March 2005, the Chinese Government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) jointly established the People's Republic of China (PRC) Poverty Reduction and Regional Cooperation Fund. The China Ministry of Finance provided financing and ADB implemented the projects. The purpose of this special fund is to support the process of poverty reduction, regional cooperation and knowledge sharing for ADB developing member countries (DMCs) in the Asia-Pacific as well as Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) countries. According to a 2019 Annual Report (p. 35-36), on 11 July 2016 and 25 October 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Finance approved $3.75 million USD from this special fund for six different Batch 1 projects: 1) $500,000 USD for "Strengthening Water Security in the Aral Sea Basin." Closing date is TBD. 2) $400,000 USD for "Policy Coordination and Planning of Border Economic Zones of the PRC and Viet Nam." Closed 29 March 2019. 3) $1 million USD for "Energy Supply Improvement Investment Program (Tranche 2)." Expected to close 30 June 2023. 4) $650,000 USD for "Strengthening Knowledge Management in Central and West Asia (supplementary)." Closed 15 March 2019. 5) $700,000 USD for "Advancing RCI through BIMP-EAGA and IMT-GT (supplementary)." Closed 6 February 2019. 6) $500,000 USD for "Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation: Supporting Capacity Development Needs of CAREC 2020 (supplementary)." Expected to close 30 June 2020. According to a 2019 Annual Report (p. 36), on 27 December 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Finance approved $1.2 million USD from this special fund for two different Batch 2 projects: 1) $500,000 USD for "Promoting Green Local Currency Denominated Bonds for Infrastructure Development ASEAN+3." Closed 30 June 2019. 2) $700,000 USD for "Promoting Low Carbon Development in CAREC Program Cities." Expected to close 31 December 2019.