The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is the primary ministry responsible for the official development assistance (ODA) of the United Kingdom (UK). The FCDO oversees the allocation and management of ODA funds to ensure alignment with the UK’s international development strategy. Other government agencies include the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
The UK’s development cooperation strategy is outlined in its International Development Strategy. Key priorities include delivering reliable investment through British Investment Partnerships, empowering women and girls by unlocking their potential and protecting them from violence, and enhancing humanitarian efforts to prevent severe human suffering worldwide. Furthermore, the strategy emphasizes advancing UK leadership on climate change, nature, and global health.
In July 2023, the UK outlined its development partnership strategy for the Indo-Pacific region with priorities on climate change, green infrastructure, trade, energy and economic connectivity, gender equality, and humanitarian, health, and food security.
As part of its climate finance initiatives, the UK pledged a $280 million (£210 million) guarantee to ADB’s Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IF-CAP). The IF-CAP initiative aims to support climate mitigation and adaptation projects across Asia and the Pacific, helping countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to climate impacts. This innovative approach allows ADB to increase its lending capacity and invest in critical climate projects, aligning with global efforts to combat climate change.
The UK is a founding member of ADB and has, since 1966, committed $1.9 billion to ADB special funds. Of this commitment, $1.8 billion is for the Asian Development Fund (ADF). The ADF provides grants to ADB’s low-income, developing member countries to help reduce poverty and improve the quality of life.
13 December 2024
ADB approved a $6 million grant, as part of a total project cost of $16.6 million, to help improve climate resilience, water and food security, and livelihood opportunities for rural communities in Timor-Leste.
12 November 2024
ADB joined with partners to show their commitment to climate change financing at a kick-off event at the Conference of the Parties 29 for the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific.
26 September 2024
ADB signed an agreement with the International Finance Facility for Education that would enable at least $500 million in new concessional education funding for lower-middle-income countries in Asia and the Pacific.
A total of 616 families in Vinh Yen, Viet Nam now have clean water toilets, funded by the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and the governments of Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
A pilot economic corridor between Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, and Bishkek, the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic, was established to foster trade, enhance free movement of labor and capital, and promote infrastructure modernization.
It is about trading better: Central Asia sees improved trade integration, infrastructure, and systems as key to boosting economic growth, jobs, and opportunity.
Since the early 2000s, the People’s Republic of China and Indonesia have been actively pursuing strategies to decarbonize their economies. A regional program demonstrates how the technology can reduce carbon intensity.
The Community Resilience Partnership Program was designed by ADB to support governments and communities in the Asia and Pacific region to scale up pro-poor resilience investments, especially at the community level.
Initiatives of the Nepal police against domestic violence have helped women feel more comfortable reporting gender-based crimes and domestic violence. Women police officers in Nepal are trained to deal with such crimes.
Bangladesh’s Primary Education Development Program introduced innovative approaches that changed the face of basic education in the country, helping increase primary school enrollment and completion rates over the last 20 years.
Financial resource mobilization by the Malaria Trust Fund has helped eradicate malaria and build strong foundations for health systems in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
Critical governance reforms in Nepal to improve accountability, procurement, and community involvement will deliver better services to millions.
Doubling the road to the north: a new expressway is helping Pakistan connect its people and businesses, promoting tourism and economic growth.
ADB and the UK collaborated on several knowledge events, including the following:
The United Kingdom was one of the event organizers and partners of the Community Resilience Partnership Program Partnership Forum 2024, which focused on decentralization programs and skills development as key themes for addressing climate risk, reducing poverty, and promoting gender equality.
Informative publication about the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific
The Indonesia Urban Resilience Forum, organized by ADB through the Urban Resilience Trust Fund, the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and the Ministry of National Development Planning, is a strategic dialogue among international, national, and city-level decision-makers and stakeholders. It aims to mainstream understanding of urban resilience, good practices, and investment gaps in the country, and to explore opportunities for cooperation.
Active trust funds are those a) with ongoing projects; or b) with no active projects but have remaining funds.
*ADB’s regular assistance to Afghanistan has been on hold since 15 August 2021, but the bank has supported the basic needs of the Afghan people since 2022 through a special arrangement with United Nations agencies.
The United Kingdom contributes to ADB’s development initiatives through two key avenues: Cofinancing and Special Funds.
Sovereign Cofinancing. In 2024, the United Kingdom (UK) committed $625,000 to technical assistance in Nepal that will identify and prepare cross-border power projects, capacity development for the energy sector’s Regional Cooperation and Integration under the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program and improve collaboration between the agencies working in the SASEC sub-region.
Nonsovereign Cofinancing. The Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program (TSCFP) supported over 49,950 transactions valued at $20 billion with banks domiciled in the UK from 2009 to 2024. During the same period, the TSCFP supported over 540 UK exports and/or imports valued at $409.8 million. In 2024 alone, the TSCFP supported over 21,260 transactions (including small and short-dated transactions under the supply chain finance business) valued at $1.4 billion with banks domiciled in the UK and supported 29 UK exports and/or imports valued at $59.3 million. Exports and/or imports were mainly to or from Bangladesh, Viet Nam, and Pakistan. Underlying goods involved mostly raw and non-energy commodities, food and agriculture-related goods, as well as textiles and apparel.
The UK has also been supportive of ADB’s TSCFP through its contribution to the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund that provided $1.5 million to finance TSCFP’s safeguards-related initiatives. Moreover, the TSCFP and the International Chamber of Commerce UK have been closely collaborating to advance the trade digitalization agenda.
The TSCFP and UK’s tax and customs authority (HM Revenue & Customs, or UK HMRC) have been strong partners in fighting Trade-Based Money Laundering (TBML), which is part of TSCFP’s trade transparency initiatives. The TSCFP presented findings from ADB’s TBML Pilot at the 1st Global Summit on TBML held in London in September 2023. The pilot benefited from UK HMRC’s expert guidance and support, which led to this ADB initiative being included in the FATF/Egmont Group’s 2020 report on TBML Trends and Developments. The TSCFP is acting as co-chair with the UK HMRC and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in the Multinational Working Group on TBML, which gathers regulators and customs authorities worldwide (e.g., the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates, among others) on a quarterly basis to discuss new developments and trends in TBML and to promote international collaboration.
