Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 25 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
Azerbaijan will be among the eight member countries represented at 9th Ministerial Conference of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC)-hosted by Afghanistan-on the island of Cebu in the Philippines on Oct.31-Nov.2, the Asian Development Bank reported.
"As it prepares for the 10th anniversary of ministerial collaboration, the regional grouping can boast more than $13 billion in CAREC-associated investments that have contributed to sustainable economic growth and improved living standards across Central Asia," the bank reported.
"CAREC is proving to be the master key that unlocks Central Asia's vast economic potential," said Juan Miranda, Director General for the Central and West Asia Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). "The presence of Azerbaijan in Cebu underscores the value this country places on CAREC, and in turn, the value CAREC places on Azerbaijan."
Azerbaijan has received over $2 billion for CAREC-related assistance since joining in 2002. Five of the nation's banks are among a growing number in the region taking part in a CAREC-related trade finance program, a move that will help local companies conduct more international trade and become more closely integrated into business networks outside Azerbaijan.
CAREC provides funding and technical assistance particularly in the areas of energy, trade and transport, leading to accelerated economic growth and closer cooperation between countries in the region.
Road improvements such as these are a hallmark of CAREC, which is helping Central Asian countries move towards a larger vision of a truly integrated and globally connected Asia, seamlessly interlinked and working in common purpose.
Improvements in key sections of the East-West Highway, a 534-kilometer (km) road traversing Azerbaijan, have played a vital role in developing the country's non-oil industrial base.
This upgrading project, which is part of the CAREC Program's Corridor 2 Roads initiative, has helped revive the country's agricultural and industrial sectors, spur regional growth, and narrow the divide between rural areas and the capital Baku, where the benefits of oil revenue have largely been concentrated.
CAREC was founded in 1997 as a partnership of eight countries-Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, the People's Republic of China, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan-and six multilateral institutions-ADB, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme, and World Bank-with a mandate to help the region realize its economic potential and connect with neighboring and international markets. ADB has served as CAREC's Secretariat since 2000.
In 2008, Azerbaijan chaired the CAREC. During the meetings, Baku's candidacy was proposed as a transshipment center in the second transport corridor (includes China-Central Asia-Europe), whose construction is initiated by the CAREC countries participating in the program on promoting trade and transport development in the region approved in late 2007. This will allow to create a large logistic center in Baku, which means that all goods from China will be transported via the Azerbaijani border, processed and transported by the national truckers.
This program worth 18 billion includes the establishment of six transport corridors passing through eight CAREC participant- countries. Two of these corridors will connect Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, and provide for the development of road, air and rail links.
The total funding for the development of transport corridors approved in 2007 by the ADB together with other international financial institutions participating in the CAREC amounted to $1.2 billion. Of these, $680 million was allocated by ADB.
A multitranche funding mechanism (MFF) approved by ADB for Azerbaijan, which provides funding of $ 500 million in the transportation projects, is one of the steps in the development of the transport corridor.
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