(EnergyAsia, November 21 2011, Monday) — Ministers from 10 countries spanning the Caucuses, and Central, East and South Asia will gather in Baku in Azerbaijan this week to mark a decade of achievement.

According to the Asian Development Bank, this will include US$17 billion of investments in energy, trade and transportation under the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Programme.

To date, the CAREC partnership counts more than 120 projects, including six extensive transport corridors and energy networks that are beginning to improve lives and livelihoods across the region.

The projects include the building or upgrading of about 4,000 km of road and 2,250 km of railway lines that have opened up corridors of trade and opportunity.

ADB said streamlined customs procedures are moving people and their businesses across borders faster and at less cost.

Electricity transmission lines and upgraded power plants are beginning to boost the vital energy trade in the region that will bring prosperity and security.

ADB said it has contributed US$5.5 billion to total investments to the programme since 2001. The ring road, rail and electricity projects in Afghanistan, and the East-West Corridor in Azerbaijan are flagship programmes.

Juan Miranda, the ADB’s director general for Central and West Asia, said:

“The first decade of CAREC put in place a framework for cooperation, and carried out regional projects as a means to achieve development objectives of member countries.

“In the next decade, CAREC will help boost international trade and improve the competitiveness of member countries through a programme of strategic regional investments in transport, trade facilitation, and energy.”

The Ministerial Conference, to be held from November 22 to 24, will also launch CAREC 2020 as the new roadmap for the next 10 years. This will provide a blueprint to help countries expand trade, spur competitiveness in the broader global economy, and reposition Central Asia as the pivot of regional trade.

Established in 2001, CAREC brings together Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It promotes the implementation of regional projects in energy, transport, and trade facilitation from northern China to the Caucasus and Europe, and from Kazakhstan to the warm water ports of Karachi, Gwadar and beyond.

Six multilateral institutions support the work of CAREC: ADB, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank, UN Development Programme, and World Bank. ADB has served as the CAREC Secretariat since 2001.