Asia's accelerated growth has pressed many goverments throughout the region to find resources to finance social protection programs. ADB has been assisting its developing member countries in this area. It has also helped them assess the fiscal challenges they face in meeting their social protection targets. This presentation shares results of a study on the resource requirements 16 member countries face in order to meet the social protection agenda by 2030.

The role of networks, such as the United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific in promoting open government practices through research, co-learning processes and mechanisms, and advocacy among member cities and local governments, is highlighted in this presentation. Networks, through advocacy, giving of awards, and co-learning processes, raise the standards in urban governance and challenge local governments to perform better in terms of transparency, citizen participation, and public service delivery.

The Open Society Georgia Foundation works proactively with the city government of Tbilisi in localizing Georgia’s global commitments to the Open Government Partnership, mobilizing political commitment through consultation and co-creation processes, and creating the same consultative mechanisms at the national level in the city of Tbilisi.

Imagine a future where all countries in the Asia-Pacific region are self-sufficient in domestic resource mobilization and do not require loans from international financial institutions; and where the integrity and transparency levels of tax officials are high that they flow onto other agencies and to the government itself. This presentation discusses the best investment practices in ICT in tax administrations to assist ADB developing member countries in mobilizing sufficient domestic resources to meet sustainable development goals.

While there is no universal agreement for what constitutes the concept of green business, it is defined here as profit-oriented activities that support environmentally sustainable growth. Within this context, this opening plenary session reflects on the role of green business development in the Asia and Pacific region.

About 2.5 billion people around the world lack access to water, sanitation, and hygiene. Offering people with a safe, hygienic, ergonomic, and economical comfort station, EcoLoo is a sustainable toilet that employs biotechnology and special enzyme to treat human waste and minimize the use of water.

After decades focusing on economic production, the development trend has shifted toward creating social inclusion and environmental sustainability. However, current indicators such as gross domestic product do not capture non-economic performance of countries. This research introduces the Inclusive Green Growth Index, a new comprehensive index measuring growth in all dimensions—economic, social, and environmental; and identifies the roles of countries and institutions in promoting higher quality of growth.

As the implementation and monitoring of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will heavily depend upon the availability of good and quality data, the formulation of a clear operational definition for each indicator of the sustainable development goals is essential. Enhancing NGOs’ capacity with continued support from international agencies as development partners is the key to achieving success in responding to global challenges.