LAHORE-The Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Institute - a knowledge arm of the CAREC Programme – organized a virtual dialogue under the CAREC Think Tank Network (CTTN) to encourage regional perspectives and raise the critical role of think tanks in bridging the gap between knowledge and policy. CAREC is an inter-governmental forum representing 11 countries - Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The think-tanks represented at the dialogue included Center for China and Globalization (CCG), PRC Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), Japan, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan, Economic Research Institute (ERI), Mongolia, Centre for Economic and Social Development (CESD), Azerbaijan, United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and the CAREC Institute, PRC. The participants agreed that to remain relevant in an increasingly noisy and challenging operational environment, think tanks need to produce topical, timely, and user-friendly analysis that is “in the right form, in the right hands, at the right time.” The COVID-19 pandemic, according to them, has triggered many crises, including large-scale social, economic, health and livelihood challenges.
Dr. Nella Hendriyetty, Senior Capacity Building and Training Economist at ADBI, Japan, highlighted the role of think-tanks like influencing and shaping policy agendas in countries and globally. They also provide and construct ideas and evidence-based assessment for the ideas and polices.
Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri who heads SDPI, Pakistan’s premier policy research think tank, since 2007 said Covid provided new online platforms which enabled them to virtually engage experts and decision-makers alike. He said they were quick in providing evidence to decision-makers so that they may take important decisions. To make the general public aware of the policy decisions, SDPI managed several webinars, conferences, opinion pieces in newspapers, media appearances and so on, he shared.
According to the press release, the CTTN Virtual Dialogue aimed to (i) facilitate an intellectual discourse on the role of think tanks during the crisis; (ii) invite a few think tanks to share their experience of policy support to the government; and (iii) deliberate on the strategies for think tanks to remain relevant in crises.