Consultations on ADB’s Public Communications Policy
Shangri-La’s Eros Hotel
New Delhi, India
16 July 2010
PCP Consultation Workshop Summary
1.
ADB conducted its in-country consultation on the Public Communications Policy (PCP)
review in New Delhi, India on 16 July 2010. Sixteen (16) stakeholders participated in the
consultation meeting, including representatives from government, donors, and civil society
organizations.
2.
Mr. Rana Hasan, Principal Economist, India Resident Mission, ADB welcomed the
participants and delivered the opening remarks. Ms. Delphine Roch, Public Information and
Disclosure Specialist of the Department of External Relations, ADB, presented a background of
the current PCP, including: key features; the PCP review's objectives and consultation process;
and summarized changes introduced in the first consultation draft. She emphasized that the
consultation draft is an initial draft and serves as the basis for the current consultation round's
discussions. Ms. Shyamala Abeyratne, PCP consultant, ADB, facilitated the meeting.
3.
After Ms. Roch's presentation, the ADB team held an open discussion with consultation
attendees. Following is a summary of the questions and issues raised, as well as
recommendations made, by the participants:
(i)
General
At the outset, the PCP is a very good policy. ADB has the right principles informing its
disclosure policy, which is maximum disclosure with minimum exceptions, subject to
public interest. ADB has had an impact in bringing in transparency regimes in South
Asia, especially in some states in India and neighboring countries such as Bangladesh.
These are two examples where ADB was central in ensuring that the state came up with
a right to information law.
Does ADB have, like the Government of Karnataka, a single point of contact to get
information? It would be important, as the website is only accessible to very few people.
A disclosure policy should go hand-in-hand with what is known as a record-attentio