The third Policy Actions for COVID-19 Economic Recovery (PACER) Dialogue on “Tourism: Respond, Restart and Recover” featured global good practice examples of effective tourism crisis recovery policies. Over 130 participants including 64 government officials from Southeast Asia and the People’s Republic of China participated in the Dialogue, sharing knowledge and country experiences and lessons on Travel and Tourism policies and measures taken to mitigate the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and accelerate recovery.

The third PACER Dialogue aimed to:

The Policy Actions for COVID-19 Economic Recovery (PACER) Dialogues is exploring measures that can help economies “bounce back” from the COVID-19 pandemic and accelerate economic recovery. The series of Dialogues will address a range of issues, including: good practices in national planning for “bouncing back” from COVID-19; employing big data and digital technology to enhance pandemic responses; policies to strengthen the role of the private sector in COVID-19 recovery; anticipating future health trends to enhance economic responses; and developing effective social protection measures.

Learn about the digital technology solutions applied in India to handle the spread of COVID-19. Panelists also shared their experiences in contact tracing and monitoring and the success in various states in India.

ADB's Digital Technology Unit and India Resident Mission organized this webinar.

Cities have contributed greatly to people's health and well-being. As rapid urbanization, aging, and the COVID-19 crisis continue in ADB's developing member countries (DMCs), officials need evidence-based approaches to improve the quality of life in cities. In this online seminar, a team from ADB described a few tools for integrating these initiatives in urban planning efforts which are applicable for the People's Republic of China and other DMCs.

In this webinar, Intelsat demonstrated how telecommunications companies can further reach isolated communities. It also discussed its programs that have created social economies, provided e-health, e-education and promoted digital inclusion for those in remote areas.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, 90% of the world's student population is affected by school closures. Governments, development organizations, and private companies mitigate this through remote learning.

Coursera, one of the leading educational technology companies providing massive open online courses, shared its COVID-19 initiative. Panelists from Asian universities presented their experiences as well.

The webinar was jointly organized by ADB's Digital Technology for Development Unit and the Education Sector Group.

During the COVID-19 outbreak in Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China (PRC), infectious medical waste increased by 600% from 40 tons per day to 240 tons per day. This quickly overwhelmed existing medical transport and disposal infrastructure around hospitals.

Other countries are likely to face similar challenges. It is critical that additional waste management systems are put in place to help reduce the further spread of COVID-19 and the emergence of other diseases.

High-quality transport infrastructure development is increasingly important to economic growth and quality of life in Asia and the Pacific.

This conference examined policy papers submitted to ADBI on high-speed rail and other transport infrastructure projects and their spillover effects on the economy, environment, society, and quality of life. The focus was on the introduction of measures to boost project planning, implementation, and operations, as well as replicate the results in new projects.