Background

The Ministerial Conference is the key policy decision-making body of CAREC, and meets annually to consider policy update and issues, relevant impact on the work of the CAREC Program, and to endorse relevant action plans. The Ministerial Conference guides the overall direction of the Program.

This year, the Ministerial Conference celebrates 10 years of successful collaboration and cooperation among the CAREC partners.

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Objectives

At the end of the Ministerial Conference, participants will have:

• agreed on CAREC's strategic framework—CAREC 2020—that will guide the direction of the Program over the next 10 years
• agreed on priority regional projects to be implemented in all sectors over the next 5 years
• explored potential financing lines for priority projects
• celebrated 10 years of successful regional cooperation

Expected outputs

• CAREC 2020 Strategic Framework endorsed by ministers
• Medium-term priority pipeline of regional projects agreed by all partners
• Joint Ministerial Statement
• Work plan for CAREC Institute endorsed
• Presentations from resource speakers on economic corridor development
• Background and briefing reports from all four priority sectors: transport, trade facilitation, trade policy and energy
• Launching of the CAREC anniversary video, celebrating the work of the 10 partners over the first 10 years of the program

Target participants

Participation is by invitation only.

• Ministers [of Finance; Economic Development; and/or Transport] of 10 CAREC countries
• Senior executive officials of 10 CAREC countries
• ADB senior management (President Kuroda, VP01, DG Miranda, DG Gerhaeusser will all participate)
• Senior representatives of EBRD, IMF, Islamic Development Bank, UNDP, and World Bank
• Development partners (confirmed participants include senior representatives from US [Deputy Assistant Secretary for State] JICA, GIZ, AFD, DfID)
• Senior officials from 10 CAREC country ministries and line agencies from transport, trade facilitation, customs, and energy sectors.

Resource speakers

The Ministerial Conference will host three expert resource speakers on economic corridor development:

• Charles Kunaka: Senior Trade Specialist, International Trade Department, World Bank.
• Andy Sze: Founder of Fastraxx Group, LLC, Logistics Expert
• G. Massimo Lupis: Member of the Board of Directors , FDL Servizi.