92002E2757

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2757/02

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(1 October 2002)

Subject: North-East Asia Development Bank

Further to the answer to my Oral Question H-0366/02(1) regarding the importance of significant investment in North-East Asia, and in the absence of support for a North-East Asia Development Bank, can the Commission indicate how it is going to ensure that the much needed emphasis on North-East Asia is actually implemented through the existing International Financial Institutions (IFIs) such as the Asia Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB)?

(1) Written answer dated 11 June 2002.

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(6 November 2002)

The fact that the Member States and not the Commission are members of the international financial institutions identified in the written question makes it essentially impossible for the Community to influence their lending decisions. The resources made available by the Union Budget remain the sole financial instrument available to the Commission to influence North-East Asia's development, in the framework set by the relevant Council Regulations. However, this situation does not prevent International financial institutions and the Commission from developing synergies and coordination between their respective cooperation strategies and activities, if and when they are active in that area.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), for example, does design and pursue regional development strategies (South Asia, Mekong Basin), while noting that such a regional approach may become more complex to design and implement when substantial heterogeneity between individual country situations exists.