Plan for new ‘Silk Roads’ through Central Asia  
'Pakistan Times' National News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Eight countries on Saturday agreed to an $18 billion strategy to improve Central Asia’s network of roads, airports, railway lines and seaports to make the region a vital transit route for trade between Europe and Asia - a modern-day equivalent of the ancient Silk Road.

The plan was agreed at a meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan attended by Ministers from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, People’s Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and supported by ADB and five other multilateral institutions, said an ADB press release received here on Saturday.

“Central Asia is becoming a pivotal region in Eurasia, a vital land- bridge linking Europe, Russian Federation, People’s Republic of China, South Asia, and the Middle East,” the Ministers said in a joint declaration at the end of the 6th Ministerial Conference of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program.

“The strategy will establish competitive transport corridors across the CAREC region, facilitate movement of people and goods across borders, and develop safe, dependable, effective, efficient, and fully integrated transport systems that are environmentally sustainable,” the statement said.

Even though Central Asia lies at the center of the Eurasian continent, less than 1% of all trade between Europe and Asia currently goes through the region.
Inadequate transport infrastructure and cumbersome border processes have resulted in nearly all trade going by sea.

The plan calls for $18.7 billion investment over the next decade in six new transport corridors, mainly roads and rail links. About half of the funds are likely to come from multilateral organizations like ADB, while the rest will come from the countries themselves.

“This is a large and ambitious strategy. It encompasses dozens of projects and will require more than $18 billion in investments over the next decade,” ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said in a speech at the conference.

“I am confident that with the unwavering involvement of each country and each institution participating in the CAREC Program here today, the active implementation of this strategy has the potential to transform the region’s economic prospects and the lives of its people. “

The plan also calls for the improvement of border crossings to speed trade flows. Customs and immigration procedures are currently bottlenecks for trade in the region.

The proposed new transport corridors do not follow the exact routes taken by the Silk Road and will not only be orientated east-west, but also north-south, connecting the Central Asian Republics, Russia and China with South Asia and the Gulf.

Titled the Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy, the plan was proposed by the CAREC Program, which is an ADB-supported initiative to encourage economic cooperation in Central Asia and was established in 1997.

At the meeting in Dushanbe, the Ministers also agreed to a shared vision for their region for the next decade. It included the aspiration that by 2018 all countries will be members of the World Trade Organization.●