Silk Road Initiative to Promote Economic Cooperation in Central Asia
MANILA, PHILIPPINES (6 January 2003) - ADB has approved a technical assistance (TA) grant of US$950,000 for the Greater Silk Road Initiative. Its aim is to help step up economic growth and raise living standards in Central Asia through economic cooperation. The TA will prepare key regional projects and explore expanded opportunities for cooperation. The focus will be on transport, energy, and trade. It will also work to strengthen partnerships between ADB and the participating countries. The project will cover the seven countries participating in ADB's Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) arrangement. They are Azerbaijan, People's Republic of China (PRC), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Central Asia has close historical and ethnic ties, as well as vital economic linkages to Afghanistan. Thus, the Initiative will support the expansion of CAREC to include Afghanistan and, through it, to expand cooperation with South Asia, especially in transport and energy. Studies will also be launched to identify enhanced cooperation opportunities between the Central Asian republics (CARs) Mongolia; and Xinjiang, PRC. "Since it began in 1997, the CAREC initiative has increased from four countries to seven," says Lan Wu, Head of ADB's CAREC Unit. "This, combined with recent developments in Afghanistan, presents a historic opportunity to develop concrete ways of expanding cooperation and broadening its geographical scope." Afghanistan, he says, could provide a route for exporting natural resources of the CARS to South Asia, while the CARs in turn could make significant contributions to the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan. Efforts are under way for Turkmenistan to join the CAREC initiative, having been an observer at ADB's March 2002 Ministerial Conference on Central Asia Economic Cooperation. Read the full TA report here. | 
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