Friday, September 26, 2008

ADB to provide $4.5 mln to foster Central Asia economic development

The Asian Development Bank said here on Thursday that it will provide 4.5 million U.S. dollars to foster closer cooperation among member countries of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation by establishing a virtual institute that will coordinate research, training and dialogue within the regional organization.

ADB will provide 4 million U.S. dollars to the project from its technical assistance fund and another 500,000 U.S. dollars from its Regional Cooperation and Integration Fund, a special fund under the Regional Cooperation and Integration Financing Partnership Facility that supports technical assistance projects.

Another 500,000 U.S. dollars will come from the People's Republic of China Regional Cooperation and Poverty Reduction Fund, while participating governments will provide 200,000 U.S. dollars to complete funding requirement.

"By its virtual nature, the CAREC Institute will not have any permanent location, infrastructure or staff. This approach offers a lot of advantages by making use of existing resources and minimizing fixed investment costs before the institute starts producing tangible results," said Natasha Davis, Regional Cooperation Specialist of the Central and West Asia Department.

The CAREC Institute will further improve regional cooperation by coming up with knowledge resources that meet global standards to support regional infrastructure networks in transportation, trade and energy, ADB said in a press release.

This should help speed up identifying and developing regional projects in the priority areas.

Source:Xinhua

No comments: