The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was of such unprecedented scale that only region-wide solidarity could beat it back, start to undo the cross-border economic damage wrought by measures to prevent the spread of the disease, and lay the basis for building back better. To stop cross-border contagion early in the pandemic, many countries closed their borders, severely reducing economic production and disrupting trade. They and their multilateral development bank (MDB) partners quickly understood that the pandemic could not be managed without intercountry cooperation.

Multilateral development banks and regional cooperation and integration. Five leading MDBs—the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the World Bank Group—used regional cooperation and integration (RCI) to tackle the pandemic and its aftermath among their members in Asia and the Pacific. The MDBs collaborated on a report to summarize the lessons they and their members have learned from the journey to recovery. The report is useful for anyone engaged in RCI.

In response to the pandemic, countries and areas quickly rallied through RCI platforms. 1 They maintained health services and tracked and controlled infection, kept essential goods flowing across borders, protected their people’s welfare, and ensured fiscal stability. Transitioning from emergency measures, the subregions harnessed digital technologies to strengthen public health and harmonize trade procedures. Countries rolled out vaccines to keep their populations safe and reopen their borders. RCI encompasses various dimensions of sustainable and inclusive development: (i) promoting trade and investment, (ii) building connectivity infrastructure, (iii) improving people’s mobility, (iv) strengthening provision of regional public goods, and (v) supporting the institutional basis for cross-border policy cooperation.