The Project aims to seek ways to improve policy processes and regional cooperation mechanisms for promoting efficient trade, investment and development in South Asia, and its integration into the wider Asian region.

It will study the institutional circumstances affecting the efficiency of economic policy formation, development and implementation in key South Asian economies and compare them with institutions and practices within the region and elsewhere; it will examine the scope for international support in strengthening institutional capacities; and it will seek to formulate recommendations on institutional design aimed at improving policy outcomes targeted to individual economies in South Asia.