CAREC Corridors for the Future: Learning from Economic Corridor Development in Asia
Asian Development Bank (ADB) Vice-President Shixin Chen participated in a high-level panel session on economic corridor development at the 12th Astana Economic Forum where he highlighted ADB and CAREC’s support for the region.
Senior officials from CAREC countries, World Bank, private sector, and academia attended the session. The panelists discussed opportunities and challenges in developing the regional economic corridors, and the role of development institutions and CAREC.
ADB Central and West Asia Department Director General Werner Liepach moderated the discussion.
Synopsis
The myriad examples of successful economic corridors in Asian countries show their power in mobilizing private and public investments, promoting high-quality growth and jobs, and raising the knowledge-intensity of exports.
Economic recovery and favorable trend observed in Central Asia recently add further momentum to the development of regional economic corridors. The Almaty-Bishkek Economic Corridor under the CAREC Program is one example of creating opportunities for projects in agriculture, tourism, health, and transport through joint efforts.
Cross-border economic agglomeration allows business to specialize, capture economies of scale and improve economic diversification and competitiveness. To expand regional economic dynamism, CAREC has also started the development of a new economic corridor among Kazakhstan (Shymkent), Uzbekistan (Tashkent), and Tajikistan (Khujand).
The session will discuss the opportunities created by economic corridors development in the world and focus on promoting economic diversification in the CAREC region by engaging with the public and private sector.