20.09.19

Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation’s (CAREC) meeting was held in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.

 The agenda of the meeting was Energy Investments Forum 2019 with the participation of energy ministers and senior executives of CAREC member countries.

CAREC was found in 1997 with the initiative of the Asian Development Bank to improve cooperation between the countries of the region. Today, there are 11 CAREC member countries and so far, some projects have been implemented within the scope of CAREC in areas such as customs, transportation, energy, tourism and efficient use of water resources. This year, the forum was attended by the energy ministers of CAREC’s member countries; Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkey.

At the opening ceremony of the forum, Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdullah Aripov’s  congratulatory speech was read by Uzbekistan’s Energy Minister Alishar Sultanov. He delivered that the CAREC had an important role in developing economic co-operation among the countries of the region and that Uzbekistan had a special place in that constructive dialogue. Prime Minister Aripov expressed his belief that these meetings, which were held for the first time in Tashkent, would contribute to the harmonization process in the region.

 The two sides exchanged ideas on improving the region’s energy cooperation at the forum. As stated during the talks the energy in the region would be used twice more by 2030 than it was used in the region before in order to ensure the economic development of Central Asia. Therefore, the region needed for 400 billion USD investment in the energy field in the following years.

Many presentations were made about the opportunities offered to investors within the framework of the Forum. During the talks, recommendations and suggestions were made on reforms in the region’s energy field. At the end of the meeting, a joint declaration was signed with the participation of the energy ministers of the CAREC program member countries. This declaration, which has a historical importance especially for the countries of the region, covers the strategy of cooperation development of Central Asian countries in the field of energy until 2030.

http://www.uza.uz/ru/society/tsentralnoaziatskoe-ekonomicheskoe-sotrudnichestvo-dialog-v--20-09-2019