Dhaka, Feb. 12 -- We all know that we live in a changing world. In the vast area of Asia and the Pacific that change is most evident. Over the past 20 years, the economies of many nations in the region have been moving out of the category of 'least developed' and graduating into a 'middle income' status.

However, the positive changes that help to make our lives better, healthier, and more prosperous, are not happening at the same time equally across all countries, or even equitably within them.

On the one hand, Asia and the Pacific is now home to three of the world's five largest economies. These and other countries in the region help to feed much of the rest of the world - the majority of aquaculture, rice production and the rapidly gr...