Others News
- Old link set for revamp
Date: 6-Nov-2007 Sources: (Xinhua Online)
Eight countries will invest $18.7 billion to improve Central Asia's road, rail, air, and sea network to make the region a vital transit route for trade between Europe and Asia.
The network will extend the ancient Silk Road, which dates back more than 2,000 years with its multiple routes linking East and West.
The plan was unveiled on Saturday at a meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, attended by ministers from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and five other multilateral institutions.
'Central Asia is becoming a pivotal region in Eurasia - a vital land-bridge linking Europe, the Russian Federation, China, South Asia and the Middle East,' the ministers said in a joint declaration at the end of the 6th Ministerial Conference of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program.
Even though Central Asia is in the middle of the Eurasian continent, less than 1 percent of all trade between Europe and Asia currently goes through the region. Inadequate transport infrastructure and cumbersome border processes have resulted in nearly all trade going by sea.
'The strategy will establish competitive transport corridors across the CAREC region and facilitate movement of people and goods across borders,' the statement said.
The plan calls for an $18.7 billion investment over the next decade in six new transport corridors, mainly road and rail links. About half of the funding is likely to come from multilateral organizations like the ADB, while the rest will come from the countries themselves.
'This is a large and ambitious strategy ... (and) the active implementation of this strategy has the potential to transform the region's economic prospects and the lives of its people,' ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said at the conference.
The ancient Silk Road was an important economic artery that stretched more than 10,000 km from the Mediterranean to China's Yellow River Valley.
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