CAREC’s moot to finalise railways projects

ISLAMABAD: The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) ministerial conference, to be held on 26 October, will finalise the multibillion dollars worth of projects, including proposed rail links in the region, a statement said on Friday.  

The draft for formulation of ‘CAREC Railway Strategy 2030’ and ‘Road Safety Strategy’ will be presented for endorsement at the 15th ministerial conference, said the statement issued by the Economic Affairs Division. CAREC comprises of 10 countries and six multilateral institutions with the mandate of promoting development through regional cooperation

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will inaugurate the conference.

The expected deliverables of the conference include CAREC railway development strategy (2016-2030), launching of the regional food safety initiative, Astana Bishkek Corridor, mid-term review of CAREC 2020, signing of agreement for establishing CAREC institute, Georgia membership and railway strategy for CAREC.  It said the CAREC’s senior officials meeting  was held on July 19-20 and attended by high delegations from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Georgia (as Observer). Asian Development Bank, United Nations Development Program, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Islamic Development Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development supported the meeting.   The CAREC’s meeting discussed updates on the four priority sectors, including transport, energy, trade and trade facilitation.