The first Asian Regional Public Debt Management forum was held from 3rd November 2009 to 5th November 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The forum was organised by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in collaboration with the Central Bank of Malaysia and had delegates from over 40 countries and international organisations including the World Bank, IMF and UNCTAD.

The Commonwealth Secretariat was represented by the Debt Management Section. During the forum, Mr Arindam Roy, Head of the Debt Management Section made a presentation on the recent initiatives in the COMSEC Debt Management programme aimed at assisting countries to formulate, implement and monitor debt strategies.

In his opening speech, the Vice President of Asian Development Bank, Mr Bindu N. Lohani mentioned that although most of the ADB member countries were not hugely affected by the recent financial crisis and economic downtown, the timing and issues to be discussed were relevant in two main aspects:

1. The forum offered a rare opportunity for debt managers in the region to share experiences and establish regional and international networks;
2. The forum aimed to expose debt managers to recent developments and instruments in the financial market aimed at assisting countries to develop their domestic debt markets as well as manage risks in their debt portfolio.

One of the major topics discussed was the rising Islamic finance market which offers an alternative source of sovereign financing. It was noted that globally, Islamic finance market has grown by approximately 15% in each year from 2005 to 2007 and Islamic compliant assets now total about US$70 billion.

It was also noted that a total of 17 ADB member countries currently use CS-DRMS for recording and managing public and publicly guaranteed debt.