Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will extend support to make Madhya Pradesh economy effective and competitive. Mio Oka, country director of ADB, leading the India Resident Mission, said that considering the state’s impressive performance and its growing economy over the last two and half decades, the ADB will continue partnerships in new areas of development with the state.

Oka was addressing a workshop held here to commemorate 25 years of partnership between ADB and Madhya Pradesh in different spheres of development. The workshop aimed at outlining areas of mutual cooperation for development and planning future strategies. She observed that Madhya Pradesh has positively utilized ADBs financial support for implementation of development projects in the public interest. This partnership will continue in the future, focusing on new areas of collaboration emerging including agribusinesses, quality improvement in school education, health services enhancement, skills development for human resources and strengthening social infrastructure and management, she added.

The partnership between Madhya Pradesh and ADB began in 1999. The ADB provided 6 billion US dollars supporting key sectors like energy, transport, urban development , agriculture, livelihood creation, water management and irrigation management. In the energy sector, ADB has provided assistance of 1.72 billion dollars and 800 million dollars have been contributed to the development of 140 cities, aiding improvement in water supply, sewage, sanitation, rainwater drainage and solid waste management.

Additionally ADB contributed 375 million dollars for irrigation of over 125,000 hectares. To enhance the technical skills of youths, ADB has provided 150 million dollars for Global Skill Park in Bhopal. ADB is also studying how to strengthen the state’s economy by developing appropriate policies and increasing investments to make it more competitive. Based on this study, ADB will explore potential collaborations in new areas with state officials. Talking about cooperation in the energy sector, she said ADB is now stepping forward to support the enhancement of the green economy to provide renewable energy conservation, utilization and to mitigate the threats of climate change.