Baku will host the 10th universal conference of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Thursday.
The conference will stress cooperation between its 10 member states. About $17 billion were invested in CAREC programs in energy, trade and transport to improve living standards.
Azerbaijan joined the CAREC program in 2002. It has invested $3 billion in the program. One of the achievements is improvement of the East-West highway by Azerbaijan, making it a more efficient corridor between the Caspian and Black Seas, thus promoting trade between Europe and Asia. The project contributed to development of agriculture.
Head of the ADB office in Azerbaijan Olli Noroyono said that Azerbaijani devotion to development of trade routes proves willingness to achieve regional integration.
Azerbaijan receives ministers of CAREC program for the second time. The first reception was organized in Baku in 2008. The conference saw a launch of the CAREC 2020 strategy which takes 10 years for realization. The new strategy will improve trade, competition in Middle Asia.
Financing of the CAREC program in 10 years will be carried out by Japan, USA, UK and a set of other states. Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzystan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are members of the CAREC program. CAREC is supported by the ADB, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank, UN Development Programme and the World Bank. The ADB is the secretariat of the CAREC program since 2001. The headquarters are in Manila, established in 1966. The bank has shareholders from 67 states, 48 of them in the region. The organization approved an aid of $13.8 billion in 2010. Total financing of ADB operations reached $3.7 billion.
