The Asian Development Bank (ADB) conducted a review of the transparency of the organization in 2003-2005. This review was completed in 2005 when the new Public Communication Policy (PCP) became effective on September 1.
Although the draft PCP is an improvement from the Bank's current disclosure policy, it fails to address several key transparency reforms.
- The ADB ignored a call from several civil society organizations to require the disclosure of aide memoires – documents produced throughout the project cycle that outline Bank and Government agreements on steps in project development or implementation.
- The PCP does not require the disclosure of draft documents, including draft Board reports and draft country strategies.
- The PCP does not thoroughly address private sector information. It makes minimal progress in this area from the previous disclosure policy.
- Although the ADB makes several laudable statements regarding the need to “strike a balance between transparency on the one hand, and certain legal and practical constraints, on the other,” the PCP does not describe how the Bank will operationalize this statement. Without an independent body that can generate opinions on what should and shouldn’t be disclosed in order to “balance” such things as business confidentiality against the public’s right to information, the ADB will never effectively implement a “presumption in favor of disclosure.”