Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan.14 / Trend, N/.Ismayilova /
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a technical assistance grant for a feasibility study for the upgrading and modernization of border crossing points in Central Asia, the ADB statement says.
The $2 million grant will be financed by the Regional Cooperation and Integration Fund under the Regional Cooperation and Integration Financing Partnership Facility. The grant will help identify basic infrastructure investment needs at the borders of six priority road corridors in Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) countries.
Aside from upgrading the facilities, the grant will also help identify how to integrate information systems to be used by relevant government agencies to review and process documents prior to the arrival of goods at the border.
The grant will also finance economic and financial analyses of the proposed projects, assessments on national governance standards, project impact on poverty reduction, and the best financing mechanism for the projects. ADB has estimated that the investment requirements for the upgrading of the cross-border facilities and technology could reach $200 million, of which $150 million could be financed by ADB.
Founded in 1997, CAREC is a partnership of 10 countries - Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, the People's Republic of China, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - and six multilateral institutions: ADB, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank. ADB has served as the CAREC Secretariat since 2001.