“The rule of law is needed to sustain development momentum
and to ensure that the benefits of growth are equitably and widely shared.”
Our Work
Supporting an enabling environment to boost private sector growth, public-private partnerships, and foreign direct investment and trade
Creating a conducive environment for the expansion of the digital economy, fintech development, and the digitalization of trade
Strengthening legal and regulatory frameworks and building the capacity of stakeholders for a more sustainable and resilient planet
Access to Justice and Inclusive Growth
Breaking down barriers for fair access to justice and eliminating violence against women and girls
LPR In Action
On 9–12 September 2025 in Tokyo, ADB Institute and ADB’s Law and Policy Reform Program conducted a skills-based training focused on international mediation and the Singapore Convention for government officials across Asia and the Pacific, as well as representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat, as part of the ADBI–ADB Alternative Dispute Resolution Education Program.
On 25-29 August 2025, ADB's Law and Policy Reform Program, in partnership with the Uzbekistan Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade, convened government officials across multiple ministries mandated to drive policy change. They participated in an intensive workshop to familiarize themselves with the legal framework for FDI critical for the green economic transition, as well as its interaction with domestic policymaking to enable them to contribute more effectively to reform process and help mitigate dispute risk for the government.
In July 2025, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) published the seminal Legal Blueprint for Developing and Regulating Carbon Markets to serve as a valuable and timely knowledge resource for law and policymakers in designing national carbon market laws and regulations. Developed under ADB’s Law and Policy Reform (LPR) Program, the legal blueprint focuses on the supply side—what countries hosting carbon crediting projects need to regulate to provide legal clarity to market participants and ensure social and environmental integrity to generate high-integrity carbon credits.
Fiji is drafting a new forestry bill to replace its 1992 Forest Act—modernizing the law to provide more holistic protection to forests. With ADB’s Law and Policy Reform Program, Fijian officials are working to align the draft with domestic and international commitments, including the Climate Change Act 2021 and the Paris Agreement, and with stakeholders’ needs. In May 2025, the Ministry of Forestry and ADB held stakeholders' consultations, allowing affected communities, traditional landowners, and others to inform the final version before it reaches Parliament.
ADB has been working with the Timor-Leste government to make justice more accessible for victim-survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) since 2021. On 25 April 2025, ADB supplied audio recorders and privacy dividers to prosecutors, and judicial and police officers, enabling them to interview victims-survivors and witnesses of GBV—especially women and girls—in a manner that better respects their privacy, reducing the emotional trauma caused by questioning. ADB also provided judges with a knowledge resource on adjudicating GBV cases and on reducing the difficulties faced by women and girls in the formal justice system.