24th CAREC Trade Policy Coordinating Committee Meeting

Trade policy officials from CAREC member countries, and representatives from multilateral development partners and CAREC Institute met to (i) take stock in the implementation of the CAREC Trade Policy Strategic Action Plan 2013–2017 ; and (ii) deliberate on the post-2017 trade policy agenda in response to the changing global trade paradigm, regional value chains development trends, and member countries’ priorities.

The meeting was co-chaired by Gulru Kayumova, deputy minister of economic development and trade in Tajikistan and Albert Jaeger, advisor, Middle East and Central Asia Department, International Monetary Fund.

Participants were also apprised of the envisaged new CAREC long-term strategy and welcomed the proposed directions, priorities, and institutional refinements.

The Asian Development Bank also presented a preliminary assessment of the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA) in CAREC countries, and a concept on the establishment of a regional trade credit and investment guarantee agency for Central and West Asia.

Other knowledge sharing presentations included (i) Changes in Export Quality in CAREC Countries since 2000 presented by IMF and (ii) Deep Integration: Current Trends and Future Opportunities for CAREC Countries presented by World Bank.