The Central Asia Regional
Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Strategy 2030 has formally been launched here Monday jointly by the Government
of Pakistan and Asian Development Bank. The new Strategy was recently
approved by the 16th Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation
Ministerial Conference held on 27th October 2017 in Dushanbe,
Tajikistan. CAREC is an eleven-member country regional platform that aims
to connect People, Policies and Projects for Shared and Sustainable
Development.
Speaking on the occasion,
Mr. Arif Ahmed Khan, Secretary,
Economic Affairs Division appreciated the Asian Development Bank for extending
cooperation for preparation of well formulated strategy document. He assured
Pakistan’s support to mobilize all possible resources
for improving and developing regional connectivity as outlined in the
new strategy. He said that the history of regional connectivity in the Central
Asia region and the Sub-Continent since centuries is linked through the
silk-routes.
Ms. Xiaohong Yang, Country
Director, ADB Pakistan Mission added that ADB would continue to support the
CAREC agenda; she said that CAREC can contribute to long term economic and
political stability creating a peace dividend. Mr. Safdar Parvez, Director
ADB headquarters Manila informed that ADB has already allocated US$ 5 billion
to implement the CAREC Strategy 2030. Syed Mujtaba Hussain, National Focal
Person for CAREC in Pakistan encouraged all Government agencies to submit
practical and viable project proposals from their respective areas.
Special Secretary, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, high level representatives from State Bank of Pakistan,
Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Federal Board of Revenue, Ministries
of Railway, Water Resources, Climate Change, Commerce, Communications, National
Food Security, and others attended the workshop and gave inputs to the way
forward on implementation of the new Strategy.
*****
