Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25
By Ali Mustafayev – Trend:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will invest $5 billion in the program of Central Asian regional economic cooperation until 2020, Kazakh media outlets reported.
Eleven countries participating in the mentioned program will receive funds for further development of the region's infrastructure and improvement of its transport and energy potential.
The development of the transport and logistics network in Central Asia is particularly important, as this region is a transit route for Chinese and Southeast Asian goods to Europe, according to Giovanni Capannelli, director of the ADB office in Kazakhstan.
"Central Asia will play an increasingly important, binding role. Kazakhstan, certainly, will become a point of intersection of different transit routes. In turn, the decisions of the leaders of Central Asian countries, which they make today with respect to infrastructure investments, logistics centers, transport routes and energy sector - will become important a factor in determining the future of this region," said Capannelli.