Urumqi hosted the first Tianshan Forum of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation program, which is quickly becoming an important regional dialogue platform, DKNews.kz reports.
More than 380 representatives of governments, international financial institutions, think tanks and business communities took part. The forum was timed to the 10th anniversary of the CAREC Institute.
Key speakers
- Lan Fo’an, Minister of Finance of China
- Chen Xiaojian, Party Secretary of Xinjiang
- Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning, Reforms and Development of Pakistan
- Ganbat Jigjid, State Secretary of Mongolia’s Ministry of Finance
- Yang Yiming, ADB Vice President for South, Central and West Asia
- Charymuhammet Shallyev, Director of the CAREC Institute
Lan Fo’an highlighted that cooperation under CAREC has already delivered tangible results and called on countries to:
- expand joint projects
- strengthen regional connectivity
- develop energy and trade
- focus on improving people’s quality of life
He stressed that Central Asia’s role on the global stage is growing.
Kazakhstan in focus
Kuanysh Amantai, Minister-Counselor of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in China, joined several roundtables and emphasized that the Government of Kazakhstan prioritizes:
- sustainable economic growth
- new drivers of development
- attracting foreign investment in transport, energy and digitalization
As of December 2024, more than 10 billion US dollars were invested in Kazakhstan across 32 CAREC-related projects, about 90 percent of which went to the transport sector.
What CAREC is
CAREC brings together 11 countries: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Its mission is to promote:
- transport
- energy
- trade
- broader regional integration
The CAREC Institute has been headquartered in Urumqi since 2015.
