ADB Aims for Regional Cooperation to Tackle Central Asia and Caucasus Challenges
Central Asia and Caucasus regions face a wide range of complex challenges including supply chain disruptions, food insecurity, climate change impact, and economic effects of geopolitical conflicts. These challenges cannot be effectively addressed in isolation, and regional cooperation is required, says the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Director for Regional Cooperation in Central and West Asia, Lyaziza Sabyrova. ADB supports the region through the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program, which is a partnership of 11 countries and development partners working together to promote sustainable development through cooperation. The biggest challenges in the region currently stem from geopolitical conflicts and climate change impacts. Many countries experience high inflation caused by supply chain disruptions as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The region is particularly vulnerable to climate change, water scarcity, and natural disasters, which are impacting agriculture and food security. Effective land transport networks are also needed to make cargo movements cheaper and faster in landlocked countries such as Uzbekistan. The region also struggles with insufficient electricity generation capacity despite the abundant energy reserves, which has resulted in a shortfall between electricity supply and demand. ADB supports projects and reforms to increase energy generation capacity, and calls for more investments in renewable energy generation and energy efficiency. Regional cooperation is essential to address these challenges.
