BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 18. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a new 5-year country partnership strategy (CPS) for Kazakhstan to help the country achieve a more diversified, inclusive, and sustainable economy, Trend reports via the press service of the bank.
The CPS covering 2023–2027 will focus on three strategic priorities - addressing the impacts of climate change and decarbonizing the economy; promoting inclusive economic growth; and strengthening governance.
The priority sectors are energy, finance, public sector management, transport, and urban development. The new CPS is aligned with Kazakhstan’s Strategy 2050 and medium-term economic policy.
As the bank noted, under the new CPS, ADB will support structural reforms through programmatic and policy-based operations. The bank will provide knowledge solutions, support policy dialogue, and help to strengthen the capacity of government institutions.
The ADB will also expand its private sector operations including public-private partnerships, and support the country’s reforms in finance, agribusiness, and state-owned enterprises.
Furthermore, it was mentioned that Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia—both in the size of its economy and in surface area—and plays a key role in the development of the subregion. To enhance its economic resilience, the country needs to accelerate economic diversification by reducing its reliance on carbon-intensive extractive industries and implementing structural reforms.
In April, following a request from the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan, ADB began exploring opportunities to accelerate the retirement of coal and other fossil fuel plants in the country and replace or repurpose them with clean energy under the bank’s Energy Transition Mechanism program.