vide port access to some of the hinterland production centers, especially in transporting perishable or delicate products. These projects will enable overall infrastructural improve­ments with shared technical standards across countries and sharing or collaboration with financial organizations.
     Much of the infrastructural investments, however, con­tinue to take place in urban or peri-urban areas and coastal China, metropolitan areas in Thailand, Indonesia, Viet Nam and India, leaving rural infrastructure relatively unattended (World Bank, 2006a). Urbanization is a major driver of in­frastructure—with the likelihood of 50% of the East Asian population being urban in 2025 and 40% of this urban pop­ulation likely to be poor (in 2025), there is an urgent need for public sector investment in urban infrastructure and de­livery of essential services such as piped water, electricity, communication and roads (Jones, 2006). The ESAP region reveals a wide disparity in basic needs infrastructure such as water supply and sanitation—ranging from 93% access to rural sanitation in Thailand to 13% in rural Solomon Islands (World Bank, 2005). On average the investment in and access to basic infrastructure for water and sanitation is marginally better in East Asia and Pacific countries com­pared to South Asia. The South Asian countries are likely to invest more in infrastructure provision, especially in energy and energy trade across the border (Jones, 2006).
     The growth of infrastructure, especially massive rates of growth of investments in urban or peri-urban areas prom­ises little for rural areas and agriculture where the lack of infrastructure will continue to be a major hurdle for further growth in yield, incomes and overall development. Private investment may always find it attractive to invest in areas of quick and assured returns—something that agriculture does not promise in the ESAP region. In South Asia, which is al­ready starved of essential water and sanitation services, the demand on rural environmental services due to rising urban infrastructure investments may become untenable.

4.2.4.5  Regional cooperation
Regional cooperation in infrastructure and service delivery is bound to increase in the near future throughout the ESAP region. Investment in water and sanitation programs in many countries, including some small countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka, seems to play an important role in strengthening local democracy by bringing people's participation in the delivery and monitoring of water services. While increasing tensions over water along international borders seems to be a feature in all the ESAP border regions, there are several regional networks and cooperation agreements being confirmed or implemented. Despite increasing conflicts and contrariness in Government behavior around key river basins—the Gan­ges, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Indus, etc., platforms for nego­tiation such as the Indus River Treaty, Ganges Water Treaty and the Mekong River Commission have worked well and have the potential to evolve and expand into further infra­structure arenas as well as pro-active regional cooperation platforms. While the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Bay of Bengal Initiative for MultiSectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are examples of regional cooperation, the Greater Mekong Sub-region, initiated and

facilitated by Asian Development Bank (ADB) is an innova­tion in international cooperation especially in infrastructure development and benefit sharing. The unique features of the GMS are its geography (with each country sharing at least three border areas), its economics (bordered by China and Thailand—both dynamic economies), sponsorship (ADB as neutral facilitator and sponsor) and budget (ADB—from national allocations). The countries can opt into a "6 - x" agreement or choose not to enter the agreement/investment (Jones, 2006). Other regional cooperation initiatives that have emerged in this pattern and are expected to enhance agricultural trade  are the  South-Asia  sub-regional  Eco­nomic Cooperation, and the Central and South Asia Trade and Transport Forum. In sectors such as fisheries that are marked by heated conflicts within countries and between countries sharing seas/coastlines, regional cooperation and active academia-Government interactions with a wide range of stakeholders along with experiments with several institu­tional and policy options are emerging (Gupta, 2006; Sa-layo et al., 2006).
     Regional cooperation in Asia has thus far focused on trade and economic cooperation, peace and security, and "less on deeper aspects of integration" (WCSDG, 2004). The SAARC regional cooperation appear to be wanting in several key areas of cooperation because of a lack of po­litical commitment. More cooperation will be required to bring in a new "social charter" for regional cooperation addressing poverty and injustice, growing inequality, social disparity and environmental security (Najam, 2005; Sob-han, 2005). However, recent developments in ASEAN point toward deepening regional integration over the coming de­cade (Sobhan, 2005). It is important to recall that monetary cooperation among Asian countries increased substantially after the Asian financial crisis of 1997/98.
     The tension between the two developed economies (Ja­pan and Australia) in the ESAP region and their differing views on and expectations from Chinese economic growth is likely to increase in the future. Cooperation in monitor­ing financial health of the Asia Pacific economies includes arrangements such as the Manila Framework Group and the ASEAN surveillance group. Most importantly the discus­sion on an Asian Monetary Fund has evolved (with Japa­nese initiation) in Chiang Mai, Thailand, into two liquidity funds—the ASEAN Swap Arrangement and the Bilateral Swap Arrangement. The Japanese and Australian economies have also contributed to setting up the Pacific Economic Co­operation Council and the Asia Pacific Economic Coopera­tion (APEC) in the past thirty years (since the signing of the Nippon Australia Relations Agreement—NARA—in 1976); these have become more meaningful since the financial crisis of the 1990s.
     The ESAP region embraces Japan with its mistrust of Chinese growth and Australia and its expectations of access to Chinese markets and mobilizing investments from China, both of which will continue to increase (Terada, 2006). As emerging industrial  powerhouses  and major  investment markets, growth patterns in both India and China are likely to influence regional cooperation and rivalries.
     Globalization and increasing intra-regional trade have played a significant role in enhancing regional cooperation in two sub-regions of the world—Latin American and the