DUSHANBE, December 15, 2008, Asia-Plus — The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Office in Dushanbe will host a press conference on December 19.
According to the ABD Dushanbe Office, the main theme of the press conference is regional cooperation in Central Asia. The press conference is devoted to the outcomes of the recent Ministerial Conference under the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program.
Government delegation headed by Mr. Matlubkhon Davlatov, State Adviser to the President for Economic Policy, is expected to participate in the press conference.
The 7th Ministerial Conference on CAREC that was held in Baku, Azerbaijan marked a turning point in the CAREC Program. With the endorsement of key strategic documents, the Program is now entering the implementation phase. Ministers and senior officials from the CAREC countries issued a joint ministerial statement acknowledging the increased mobilization of investments in the priority areas of transport, energy, and trade in 2008, endorsing documents that will guide the Program in the years ahead; and recognizing the importance of more actively involving the private sector in regional economic cooperation.
The Conference endorsed the report of senior officials to the ministerial conference, which provides a detailed a detailed review of the Program’s progress and activities in 2008, implementation of the Action Plan for the transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy to accelerate development of the six CAREC transport and trade corridors, the Trade Policy Strategic Action Plan to achieve World Trade Organization membership for all CAREC countries and liberalize trade regimes to improve the investment climate across Central Asia;, the Strategy for Regional Cooperation in the Energy Sector to expend energy trade, improve energy efficiency and security, and identify mutually beneficial approaches to meet regional energy needs, and the CAREC Institute Work Plan for 2009-2011 to provide training for government officials in areas related to regional economic cooperation and support research related to regional initiatives.
The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program was initiated in 1997. CAREC’s goal is to improve living standards and to reduce poverty in CAREC countries through more efficient and effective regional economic cooperation. To date, the Program has focused on financing infrastructure projects and improving the region”s policy environment in the priority areas of transport, energy, trade policy, and trade facilitation. These areas are critical to improving the region’s economic performance and livelihoods of the people, especially of the poor.
Spanning nearly 4,000 kilometers across Central Asia, the CAREC Program includes 8 countries in the Central Asia region, namely: Afghanistan; Azerbaijan; China; Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan; Mongolia; Tajikistan; and Uzbekistan.
CAREC operates in partnership with many key regional cooperation programs and institutions, including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC). It is a powerful platform to marshal financial resources. The combined assistance of the multilateral institutions in the priority areas of transport, energy and trade during 2006-2008 totals $2.3 billion for 42 projects.
