Regional Office, i8 conducting a regional training progranne for staff nembers in national essential drug supply systems. 132. A series of activities have been hel.d in respect Co a decision by ASEAN heal.th ninisters to c*-operate in the field of pharnaceuticats through the adoption of guidel.ines on good nanufacturing practi.ces, a training course for drug inspectors, a eorkshop tor exchange of drug infornation, a seninar/eorkshop on drug evaluation and control, and training and exchange of expertise in druq supply managenent and quality control. Tbree technical neetings have been held (1980. 1982, 1983) on the establisnent of ASEAN ref,erence subsCances. 133. Pooled procurement of essentiaL drugs on the basis of subreglonal or other grouping of countriea continues to be of lnterest. Its ain is to achieve bulk purchases of essential drugs at loe prices set bV ingernacional competlti.ve Drocurement. 134. Pooled procurement has been af,tenpted for a targe nunber of island-States ln the South Pacific, in the Caribbean basin, and by a grouping of l8 councries in Africa. Hhile lhere has been sone posltive exDerience (four larger islands in the Caribbeani procurenent of a limited nurnber ot drugs by culf States), pooled procurement plans have generalLy not yet cone to fruition alue to political reasons and problens of co-ordination and finance. !'|ORLD BAN( 135. Although the primary f@us of nost g{orld Bank projects and activities i3 national econonic development., pronotion of econonic co-operat ion anong developing countries has found its expression in t.tre funding of multinati.onal or regional deuelopment proj ects, 136. In fiscal. year 1984, the Bank nade th,o Loans that provided direct investnent in reglonal Projects. The first of, lhese is the Benin-Togo Nangbeto Hydroelectric ProJect for ehich an Int.ernati.onal Devel.opnent Association (IDA) credit of $30 nlllion - $15 niLlion to each country - was granted. The goal of the project is to
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing regional cooperation and development initiatives in the fields of healthcare and economic development. The mention of ASEAN, pooled procurement of essential drugs, and international development projects suggests that the text is focused on regional cooperation and economic development in the healthcare sector.

**Category**
Economic development, Health