Asia Pacific Procurement Forum

1st CONSULTATIVE MEETING

Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines
August 24 to 25, 2009

SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS

Introduction
Procurement Forum Initiative - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) conducted a consultative
meeting to gather inputs from procurement officials and donor partners across Asia and the
Pacific region to establish a “Procurement Forum”. Further details are available in the Technical
Assistance Concept Paper Summary.

Objectives – To address the development constraints posed by weak procurement as identified

in CSPs, and by networking procurement policy officials in a minimum of 20 DMCs, it is hoped
that the Forum will facilitate a sharing of experiences and develop common agenda to move the
public procurement systems of member countries toward international best practice.

Strategy/Action Plan – Over a 3-5 year implementation period, the initiative targets (i) regional
conferences; (ii) subregional meetings; (iii) the development and maintenance of a functioning
Forum website providing resource materials and a common platform for continuous dialogue
and information exchange; and (iv) the production of a periodic newsletter.

Members of the Forum

A total of 24 countries/economies of the Asia Pacific region enumerated below whose
representative(s) attended the Consultative Meeting have agreed, through a Questionnaire, to
the establishment of an Asia Pacific Procurement Forum, and have contributed to its design in
the course of the Consultative Meeting.
Bangladesh Cambodia PRC Pakistan PNG
Bhutan Indonesia Mongolia Uzbekistan Solomon Islands
India Lao PDR Azerbaijan
Maldives Malaysia Georgia
Nepal Philippines Kazakstan
Sri Lanka Thailand Kyrgyz Rep.
Vietnam Tajikistan

Setting the Stage for “Informed Brainstorming”

Formally opening the Consultative Meeting were ADB Operations Group 2 Vice President Mr.
C.L. Greenwood, Jr. who gave the opening address. This was followed by introductory remarks
from ADB-COSO Principal Director Hamid Sharif.
 Lead Professional Bob Rothery and Principal Procurement Specialist Omar Tiwana, both from
ADB-COSO, jointly presented the program/agenda and overall format of the 2-day consultations
particularly the procurement topics to be tackled at the breakout sessions, and chaired the
meeting.

Presentations
Three presentations were made in the morning of Day 1, providing the most current thinking of
donors and development partners on 'aid effectiveness' and assessment, including upgrading
and using 'country systems' as a way to promote better practice in procurement. Presentations
on Day 2 included a brief discussion on ADB’s Anti-Corruption Initiative, and two presentations
on networking options: 1) a first cut on the proposed Asia Pacific Procurement Forum website,
and 2) the Asia-Link project.

Breakouts, Summary Findings, and Conclusions

In the afternoon of Day 1, the participants separated into breakout groupings to tackle specific
procurement topics and draw from them a prioritization of the issues/challenges, possible
responses/solutions, and potential Forum intervention to these challenges. A summary of these
discussions and prioritization have been recorded, and hopefully will help streamline the
structure and operation of the Forum. At the end of Day 2, ADB-COSO Principal Director Hamid
Sharif summed up the conclusions of the 2-day consultations.

Also available now are the Summary Findings from the Questionnaire.

Next Steps
The Asia Pacific Procurement Forum website will be developed, and the funding proposal will be
pursued. Please stay tuned.

Ad hoc Forum Contacts

Butch D. de la Cruz
Consultant
Central Operations Services Office (COSO)
Asian Development Bank
Tel: +63 2 632 4444 ext-70879
marcianodelacruz.consultant@adb.org
Clarisse M. Santos
Consultant
Central Operations Services Office (COSO)
Asian Development Bank
Tel: +63 2 632 4444 ext-70736
csantos.consultant@adb.org