Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, to develop first CAREC economic corridor

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From left: (seated)Murat Tishbekovich Kudyshev, Deputy Head, Almaty City Administration, Kazakhstan; and Zamirbek Tolobayevich Malabekov, First Deputy Mayor, Bishkek City Administration, Kyrgyz Republic; (standing) Klaus Gerhaeusser, Director General, Central and West Asia Department, ADB; Wencai Zhang, Vice President (Operations 1), ADB; Timur Zhaxylykov, Vice Minister, Ministry of National Economy/CAREC National Focal Point, Kazakhstan; Takehiko Nakao, President, ADB; Djoomart Otorbaev, Prime Minister, Kyrgyz Republic; Temir Sariev, Minister of Economy, Kyrgyz Republic, Sanjar Mukanbetov, CAREC National Focal Point, Kyrgyz Republic; and Ayumi Konishi, Director General, East Asia Department, ADB

At the 13th CAREC Ministerial Conference in Bishkek, the city administrations of Almaty and Bishkek signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop the Almaty-Bishkek Corridor as an economic corridor.

Murat Tishbekovich Kudyshev, deputy head of the Almaty city administration, and Zamirbek Tolobayevich Malabekov, first deputy mayor of the Bishkek city administration, participated in the signing ceremony. It was witnessed by the Kyrgyz Republic’s Prime Minister Djoomart Otorbaev and Minister of Economy Temir Sariev, Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of National Economy Timur Zhaxylykov, and Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao.

Developing economic corridors refers to spatially organizing economic activity by utilizing a variety of infrastructure combined with adopting policies and institutions to attract private investment and generate growth. Infrastructure may include primary and secondary roads, power, information and communication technology or ICT, urban infrastructure, industrial or economic parks, among others.

Almaty and Bishkek will work together to identify physical infrastructure, policy and institutional initiatives, and market opportunities for development of the economic corridor.

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The effort will include (i) analysis of long-term development strategies and planning of the two cities to identify and build on mutual complementarities; and (ii) sector analyses to identify opportunities for direct trading between the cities, and for integrated production to expand existing markets and create new ones in the region.

MoU implementation will be facilitated by technical assistance from ADB under the CAREC Program, and will be monitored by a working group of representatives of the two city administrations and national ministries.

CAREC fosters regional economic cooperation in Central Asia and includes 10 member countries: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, People’s Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

CAREC has invested more than $27 billion in infrastructure projects since it was started in 2001.

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