CAREC Senior Officials' Meeting (October 2005)

A preparatory Senior Officials’ Meeting on Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) was convened in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, on 14 October 2005. Delegates from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, the People’s Republic of China, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan attended the meeting. For the first time representatives from Afghanistan and the Russian Federation participated in the meeting.

Multilateral partners to the CAREC Program: Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and World Bank, were represented.

Participants (i) reviewed the progress in the areas of transport, energy, trade policy, and trade facilitation; (ii) discussed updates in regional business roundtable and preparation of a Comprehensive Action Plan; (iii) briefed on UNDP Central Asia Human Development Report; (iv) endorsed key messages for Ministers; and (v) reviewed arrangements for the Fourth Ministerial Conference in CAREC.