Tourism route can link CAREC member states from China to Georgia

Under the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program, its participating countries will receive grants to develop tourism potential from China to Georgia. Nariman Mannapbekov, the head of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) office in Azerbaijan explained this in an interview with Report.

"At present, there is intensive work ongoing on the development of this area. We believe that tourism can create and deepen socioeconomic and cultural ties across countries, improve connectivity, and foster better dialogue by bringing people and nations closer together. It also has enormous potential in the development of the private sector. The tourism industry in the region has accumulated enough issues that need to be addressed, not just by country alone, but also by collective efforts among countries. To this end, a $2.0 million technical assistance was approved last month by ADB to help CAREC countries develop a comprehensive strategic framework to promote regional tourism development, identify concrete bankable regional projects and programs, and enhance the institutional capacity of tourism-related agencies in CAREC countries." Mannapbekov said.

The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program was launched in 2001 on the initiative of the ADB. To date, 11 countries participate in CAREC – Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, the People’s Republic of China, Georgia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. ADB serves as the Secretariat. Various international institutions are supporting the CAREC program including European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), UN Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank.