Ministers from 10 countries spanning the Caucuses, and Central, East and South Asia will gather next week in Baku (Azerbaijan) to mark a decade of achievement, including 17 billion dollars of investments in energy, trade and transportation under the Central Asia Regional Economic Co-operation (CAREC) Programme. Established in 2001, CAREC brings together Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
It promotes the implementation of regional projects in energy, transport, and trade facilitation from northern China to the Caucasus and Europe, and from Kazakhstan to the warm water ports of Karachi, Gwadar and beyond. The Ministerial Conference, to be held from 22-24 November, will also launch CAREC 2020 as the new roadmap for the next 10 years. The roadmap would provide a blueprint to help countries expand trade, spur competitiveness in the broader global economy, and reposition Central Asia as the pivot of regional trade.
"The first decade of CAREC put in place a framework for co-operation, and carried out regional projects as a means to achieve development objectives of member countries," said Juan Miranda, Asian Development Bank (ADB) Director General for Central and West Asia. "In the next decade, CAREC will help boost international trade and improve the competitiveness of member countries through a programme of strategic regional investments in transport, trade facilitation, and energy," Juan added.
The CAREC partnership counts more than 120 projects to date, including six extensive transport corridors and energy networks that are beginning to improve lives and livelihoods across the region, according to statement issued by Asian Development Bank (ADB) here on Friday.
ADB has contributed dollars 5.5 billion to total CAREC investments since 2001, it said adding the ring road, rail and electricity projects in Afghanistan, and the East-West Corridor in Azerbaijan were flagship programmes that embodied CAREC. About 4,000 km of road and 2,250 km of railway lines had been built or upgraded, opening up corridors of trade and opportunity, the statement added.
Streamlined customs' procedures are moving people and their businesses across borders faster and at less cost, the statement said, adding electricity transmission lines and upgraded power plants were beginning to boost the vital energy trade in the region that would bring prosperity and security. Six multilateral institutions support the work of CAREC: ADB, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme, and World Bank.
ADB has served as the CAREC Secretariat since 2001. ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members - 48 from the region. In 2010, ADB approvals, including co-financing, totalled dollars 17.51 billion. In addition, ADB's ongoing Trade Finance Programme supported dollars 2.8 billion in trade.