Manila, Feb 24, 2006 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Asian Development Bank (ASX: ATB) has approved an US$800,000 contribution to support the operations of the Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre over the next three years.
The PFTAC was established in 1993 as a regional initiative by the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Development Programme to address the lack of technical skills and weak institutional capacity in economic management that was impeding economic development in most Pacific island countries.
PFTAC now operates in 15 Pacific island developing countries with an annual budget of about $2.3 million. It provides technical advice and training in key financial and economic areas.
"PFTAC is regarded as a high-quality, flexible, demand-responsive, and cost-effective way to address the capacity constraints of Pacific island developing countries," says Indu Bhushan, Director of ADB's Pacific Operations Division.
ADB's contribution will help meet the estimated $7 million needed for PFTAC's operations until May 2008. Since 1994, ADB has provided about $3.6 million for seven regional technical assistance projects to support PFTAC operations.
Contact
Graham Dwyer
Email: gdwyer@adb.org
Tel:+632 632 5253; +632 898 3413
| ||
|
