Asian Center for Democratic Governance

Asian Center for Democratic Governance >> Strengthening Democratic Governance

A Report by the Asian Center for Democratic Governance
17 - 18 March 2002
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Program:

About this Report

Agenda

Welcoming Remarks

Message from NED

Inaugural Address

Session 1:
An Overview of the Functioning of Democracy in the Region

Session 2:
Conflict Management through Democratic Institutions

Session 3:
Fighting Corruption through Greater Transparency

Session 4:
Elevating the Role of Women in Public Life

Concluding Session

Conference Presenters

View Entire Report in PDF

Welcome

FAROOQ SOBHAN

Why are the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, and the Confederation of Indian Industry-all institutions with a primary interest in business, commerce, and industry-joining hands for a conference concerning democratic governance? We in South Asia have seen the very strong links between business, commerce, and industry, and democratic governance. The co-relationships between them have been clearly established. Economic growth and development in our countries require not only healthy functioning democracies but also strong institutional support.

The four sessions in this conference address critical elements in the process of strengthening democratic governance. This exchange of views will pave the ground for important and necessary interaction within the region and with those who are committed to promoting democracy internationally, not least among them the National Endowment for Democracy, which has taken many important initiatives around the world. We welcome this opportunity to work with them. Their involvement is both an acknowledgment and an encouragement of the democratic process in Bangladesh.

We in the region are certainly going through critical times, interesting times, difficult times. We hope above all that this interaction will have a positive impact on the process of regional cooperation and the strengthening of the democratic process, in particular governance, in each of our countries.

TAPAN CHOWDHURY

The MCCI attaches great importance to any deliberations on democratic governance.

The people of the least developed countries are poor not only because of poor distribution of world resources, but because their governance level is poor. Only when they improve their governance will they prosper. An economic model by William Beach of the Heritage Foundation shows that for every 4 percent improvement in a country's index of economic freedom, including good governance, its economy will grow by 1 percent.

There is no precise recipe for strengthening governance, though studies reveal that democratic governance promotes the efficiency of resource use and growth. While it is important for any democratic government to obtain the requisite parliamentary mandate, it must also hold the necessary interactions with civil society, including business organizations, to ensure a comprehensive strategy of checks and balances within the governance system. Only in this way can the economic environment be made conducive to growth and people's welfare. Our Chamber therefore attaches great value to democratic governance for the efficient use of resources.

SUSHANTA SEN

The CII believes that governance plays a very strong part in the economic development of a country. In the last decade in India, we have been undergoing economic reform. During this period, CII has set up a Public Policy Committee, and our task has been to interact with members of parliament and political leaders to bring about a degree of consensus on economic policy in regard to reforms.

However, we do not limit ourselves to discussing these reforms but include other subjects such as electoral funding, transparency in political funding, etc.

I am sure that the experiences that will be shared by all of us here will be very useful to all the countries represented here today.

GAUTAM ADHIKARI

The motto of the Asian Center for Democratic Governance is "Making Democracy Work," and that remains the central theme of every event we organize. This is our fourth event to date, our inaugural conference having been held in New Delhi in January 2001. Our second was held in Seoul, South Korea, on campaign funding and political funding in general; and our third, which again took place in New Delhi, was on freedom of information and its importance for ensuring transparency.

To round off this process, we thought it would be appropriate to have a conference touching upon the key elements of what democratic governance is all about.

In the case of countries like Bangladesh, India, and other developing countries, democracy must work to uplift the poor, ensure economic development, and above all strengthen its institutions. We feel institutional functioning is essential to making a success of any kind of democratic experiment. Better conflict management through democratic institutions is therefore a key area, as is managing corruption, because many of our countries are institutionally plagued in a way that makes any kind of democratic exercise almost futile. And, increasingly, the role of women in key positions of public leadership is becoming central to the success of any democratic experiment.

The Asian Center was created to provide a platform for sharing experiences and exchanging ideas for improving the functioning of democracy through institutional means.