Sources of strengths, remaining vulnerabilities and new policy challenges for Asia.

Currently, much of Asia, and especially East Asia, is
growing at an impressive rate, though somewhat
lower than before the East Asian crisis. According to
World Bank (Ghosh 2006) estimates, the East Asian
region has averaged 5.6 per cent a year annual
growth during 2000–5.1 China is growing much
faster. This is allowing for a very significant reduction
in poverty. Continued high growth is crucial from a
perspective of poverty reduction, as the number of
poor people in East Asia is a high proportion of the
world’s poor. Furthermore, continued dynamism in
Asia is an increasingly important pillar for growth in
the rest of the world. Therefore, for both reasons,
sustaining growth in Asia is important for meeting
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as well
as for sustaining world economic growth.