The Asia-Pacific Development Journal (APDJ) is published twice a year with the primary objective of providing a platform for the exchange of knowledge, experience, ideas, information and data on all aspects of economic and social development issues and concerns facing the region and aims to stimulate policy debate and assist policy formulation. The Asian development experience is an example of what can be achieved when policymakers, experts, scholars and people at large harness their creativity, knowledge and foresight. The APDJ has been a proud partner in this process, providing a scholarly means for bringing together research work by eminent social scientists and development practitioners from the region and beyond for use by a variety of stakeholders. Over the years, the Journal has emerged as a key United Nations publication in telling the Asian development story in a concise, coherent and impartial manner to stimulate policy debate and assist policy formulation in the region.