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Annual Report 2003 : Moving the Poverty Reduction Agenda Forward: Priorities and Outcomes
East and Central AsiaThe region extends from the Republic of Korea5 in the east to Azerbaijan in the Southern Caucasus in the west and is comprised of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Mongolia, and the six Central Asian republics (CARs). It covers a vast land mass and a wide range of economic, political, social, and natural conditions. The population is nearly 1.4 billion and combined gross domestic product (GDP) is $1.8 trillion. The CARs, Azerbaijan, and Mongolia are still largely dependent on the production and export of natural resources, so their performance is heavily dependent on international commodity prices. Because of the strong growth of the PRC economy and the continued upswing in commodity prices, the region again performed well economically in 2003 and also enjoyed both social and political stability, including Azerbaijan’s successful political transition. ADB’s regional efforts were implemented under its Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation program. Almost all DMCs in the region are members though Turkmenistan has not yet joined. Since March 2002, activities have been guided and supervised by an official institutional mechanism headed by a ministerial committee. At its second meeting in Tashkent in November 2003, the committee reiterated its commitment to promote regional cooperation and urged promotion of investment projects in the transport, trade, and energy sectors. The committee endorsed the agreement the development partners reached during the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s 2003 annual meeting for ADB to be the secretariat for the mechanism. ADB is currently preparing a regional cooperation strategy to ensure effective cooperation. Some regional initiatives taken up outside the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation framework saw further progress during the year. A ministerial steering committee reviewed the initial draft of the feasibility study for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan natural gas pipeline and laid down time line for the further development of the project. Some CARs also participated in the ADB-sponsored Central and South Asia Transport and Trade Forum that is considering proposals for north-south transport corridors that would connect CARs to ports on the Persian Gulf and/or the Arabian Sea. ADB strengthened its presence in the region with the opening of a resident mission in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and the appointment of a country director for Azerbaijan to head the resident mission in Baku. Coordination of ADB’s activities and operations with other development partners was strengthened through active collaboration in the Commonwealth of Independent States-7 initiative; a visit to European Union headquarters for program coordination; senior, official consultations with the World Bank; participation in International Monetary Fund and Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility missions; and formal consultations with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. These efforts were supplemented by field collaboration and coordination by ADB’s resident missions. In 2003, the region received $1.7 billion in ADB loans (compared with $1.2 billion in 2002) and $32.2 million for technical assistance. Operations are poised for a new phase of development in close coordination with partners and with full ownership by the DMCs concerned. These will be based on the CSPs approved by the Board in 2003 for the PRC, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, and Tajikistan. These medium-term strategies, in conjunction with the regional cooperation strategy, will further enhance ADB’s role as principal regional development partner.
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