BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 11
By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend:
Turkmenistan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have discussed issues of expanding cooperation in the field of aviation and tourism, Trend reports with reference to Turkmenistan’s State News Agency.
The discussions took place during an online meeting organized within the framework of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program.
The participants focused on the key vectors of the " CAREC 2030: Connecting the Region for Shared and Sustainable Development", as well as on the issues of further strengthening of multilateral cooperation.
Using the above-mentioned program as a platform, the ADB actively participates in the financing of investment projects in Turkmenistan, the report says.
Turkmenistan has been a member of the ADB since 2000. During the cooperation, the parties worked together, including within the framework of CAREC, on such sectors as energy, transport, trade facilitation, customs issues, tourism, the formation of economic corridors, and human development.
As earlier ADB told Trend, the bank is discussing with Turkmenistan to expand its sector coverage to include small and medium enterprise (SME) financing through local banks, training of nurses and paramedical workers, and railway development.
ADB’s plans to expand the mentioned sector are aside from implementing the ongoing power grid strengthening project and preparing the TAPI Gas Pipeline Project.
Speaking about the Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Turkmenistan railway (TAT) project ADB noted that the bank has yet to extend any investments specifically for the TAT.
"ADB continues to be actively engaged in discussions with all of its developing member countries on their priority projects including for railways, and remains open to providing support for those projects which are economically viable and financially sustainable," said ADB.
As earlier ADB told Trend, Asian Development Bank (ADB) made good progress in implementing the National Power Grid Strengthening Project and launched preparatory work for the TAPI Gas Pipeline Project in Turkmenistan in 2020.
ADB's COBP from 2020 through 2022 for Turkmenistan is, by and large, aligned with its country partnership strategy (CPS) from 2017 through 2021.
COBP provides for three major avenues of support: hydrocarbon market diversification and energy trade promotion; diversification of the non-hydrocarbon sectors through transport infrastructure investment to improve market connectivity and private sector development; and knowledge work on economic diversification and reforms, as derived from the government’s development objectives.
The National Power Grid Strengthening Project will build about 1,100 kilometers of new 110-kilovolt, 220 kV, and 500 kV transmission lines; construct four new substations, and expand three existing substations.
"The project will cover four of the five regions of Turkmenistan, and will help establish an interconnected national transmission grid to improve reliability and energy efficiency of the network."
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva