DUSHANBE, October 12, Asia-Plus - Measures to strengthen regional cooperation in Central Asia will be discussed at the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation that will be held in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous District of China, on October 20.   

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Dushanbe Office, the conference is aiming consider issues related to regional cooperation in the fields of transport and energy.

The Conference will bring together high-level delegations from Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia to discuss future regional cooperation efforts in Central Asia.  The program is focused on regional initiatives in transport, trade facilitation, trade policy, and energy that are critical to improving the economic performance of the region.

Matlubkhon Davlatov, State Adviser to the Tajik President for Economic Matters, will head a Tajik delegation to attend the meeting in Urumqi.  The Tajik delegation will consist of the Transport Minister Abdurrahim Ashurov and senior representatives from president’s executive office and the ministries of economy, state revenues and tax collections, and energy.   .

Representatives of multilateral institutions, bilateral and other regional organizations, and the private sector are expected to attend a series of meetings including a Business Development Forum starting on October 16.  ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda will make a keynote speech at the Ministerial Conference.

Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) is a broad partnership of the participating countries and six multilateral institutions to promote economic cooperation in Central Asia.

The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program was initiated in 1997. CAREC’s goal is to improve living standards and to reduce poverty in CAREC countries through more efficient and effective regional economic cooperation. To date, the Program has focused on financing infrastructure projects and improving the region''s policy environment in the priority areas of: transport; energy; trade policy and trade facilitation. 

These areas are critical to improving the region’s economic performance and livelihoods of the people, especially of the poor.

CAREC is a powerful platform to marshal financial resources. The combined assistance of the multilateral institutions in the priority areas of transport, energy and trade is expected to exceed $1.5 billion during 2006-2007.