CAREC Development Partners Dialogue: Advancing Trade, Tourism and Regional Competitiveness

Overview

The CAREC Development Partners’ Dialogue brought together CAREC countries and development partners to discuss opportunities to advance trade, tourism, and regional competitiveness and deepen collaboration among development partners (DPs) in project development and implementation. The Dialogue served as a platform for exchanging views on how regional cooperation, policy reforms, and strategic investments can support sustainable and inclusive economic growth across the CAREC region. The event was jointly organized with UNDP and featured participation from ministers, vice ministers, senior officials and several development partners such as IMF, World Bank, EBRD, AIIB, MCDF, CAREC Institute and UNDP.

Key Takeaways

• Participants reaffirmed the importance of regional cooperation as a driver of economic growth, competitiveness and resilience across CAREC region.
• Discussions repeatedly highlighted the need to move beyond physical connectivity. While significant progress has been made over the past 25 years in developing transport and other regional infrastructure, participants emphasized that the next phase of CAREC should focus on unlocking greater economic value through increased trade, investment, tourism, and the development of regional value chains.
• DPs emphasized the importance of combining infrastructure investments with policy reforms, digital interoperability, trade facilitation and institutional capacity building to maximize the development impact.
• CAREC member countries shared experiences on nationally led reforms and initiatives with cross-border relevance, demonstrating how regional cooperation can support trade expansion, tourism development, and private sector growth.
• Participants underscored the importance of strengthening coordination among DPs and leveraging complementary expertise and financing instruments to support regional public goods and cross-border initiatives.
• Discussions highlighted the need to mobilize greater private sector investment through improved project preparation, policy certainty, risk mitigation measures, and the development of bankable regional projects.
• The Dialogue provided an opportunity for DPs and CAREC governments to exchange views on future priorities and identify areas for enhanced collaboration under CAREC’s next phase of development.
• ADB and the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) showcased dedicated financing platforms to accelerate regional connectivity investments across the CAREC region. The newly launched BUILD Facility will support modern border infrastructure, digital systems, and harmonized procedures, while the MCDF Finance Facility provides grants for project preparation and capacity building to help develop high-quality, bankable cross-border connectivity projects in sectors such as transport, energy, digital connectivity, and water resources.