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CAREC Committee to Assemble in Baku

Business Materials 9 June 2008 11:13 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, 9 June / corr Trend I.Khalilova / A meeting of the Committee on Transport and Trade Assistance will be held in Baku on 11 and 12 June under CAREC (Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation) program, the Baku Office of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Khong Vang, Transport Unit Director, is visiting Baku to attend the event.

CAREC events are held in Baku in 2008 due to Azerbaijan's current chairmanship over the program. Initially, consultations on transportation issues were held at the workshop on "CAREC Trade Logistics and Efficiency Monitoring", held in Baku on 23 April.

During the meeting Baku was proposed to become the transfer center in the second transport corridor (which covers China -Central Asia - Europe), proposed for construction under CAREC program on assistance to trade and development of transport in the region adopted at the end of last year.

It will enable to establish in Baku a huge logistics center and cargo from China will be transported via the Azerbaijani border, reproduced and transported by national transporters.

This program includes the establishment of six transport corridors running via the territory of eight CAREC member-countries with a total budget of $18bln. Two of the corridors will connect Azerbaijan with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and envision the development of automobile, air and railway transport.

The total amount of financing for the development of transport corridors, approved by the ABD in 2007 jointly with other international financial institutes participating in CAREC, made up $1.2bln with $680mln to be allocated by the ADB.

The ADB plans to direct to Azerbaijan consultants to carry out detailed analysis in connection with the establishment of new transport corridors connecting the Central Asia with Azerbaijan.

The Multitranche Financing Facility (MFF) adopted by the ABD for Azerbaijan and envisaging the approval of $500mln for the implementation of transport projects, is one of the steps taken for the development of the transport corridor.

CAREC is a partnership involving eight countries ( Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) and six international financial institutions (Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, UNDP, World Bank and Islamic Development Bank).

The correspondent can be contacted [email protected]

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