Silk Road Regional Project

1. Silk Road Regional Project Wojciech Hübner Regional Economic Advisor in Central Asia Outline and main ideas Type: Capacity Building for Regional Cooperation and Development

2. Silk Road Regional Project • Cooperation of UNDP Regional Bureaus: RBEC - RBAP – initial financing 50/50 • Beneficiary countries: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan & Uzbekistan • National support projects • Candidates to join: Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, • Expression of interest: Pakistan, Korea, Japan

3. Silk Road Regional Project • Phase I: Silk Road Area Development Programme Phase I established a framework for regional cooperation between the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and China, through the setting up of National Coordination Mechanisms (NCMs) and through practical working-level activities.

4. Silk Road Regional Project • Phase II represents the strategic phase which will further consolidate the framework for long-term economic cooperation through the realisation of concrete results in three inter-related target areas: • Trade and Transit project will work towards increased levels of trade and transit in the region, promoting accelerated growth and human development through enhancing capacities and institutions underpinning economic cooperation among member countries within the framework of SCO;

5. Silk Road Regional Project • Investment: project will work towards promotion of investment in the region and will aim at establishment of a mechanism for facilitating investment in the Silk Road area; • Tourism project will assist countries in developing a regional plan for the sustainable development of tourism including the promotion of Silk Road arts and crafts, and commitments to sustainable levels of tourism development through the establishment of an award for “UN Silk Road Cities”.

6. Silk Road Regional Project • Trade in the region – status : • Best known mechanism of integration , only recently being discovered • Traditional structure of flows – changes still ahead. Efforts to diversify or promote trade have brought mixed results. • Since Soviet times - weak inside the region. Unrecorded and illegal • Numerous barriers - mainly non-tariff, also of psychological nature • China – new dynamic factor • How much of transmission to CA is in place? • WTO membership. • Trade pioneering investment flows • China – global giant interested also in CA

7. Silk Road Regional Project Investment complex – status • Progress in recent years after low levels in KYR, UZB, TAJ • KAZ – most successful, but traditional pattern • New public – private partnerships • Marketing effort , Agencies • China – giant possibilities and untapped potential • Russian investment in CA • External perception, governance issues, regional not only national perspective

8. Silk Road Regional Project Tourism sector – status In CA: • Limited progress, better regulations – ecotourism, private sector encouraged, but still considerable untapped potential • New wave of interest by Governments – e.g. in Tajikistan China – global giant

9. Silk Road Regional Project Highlights of the whole concept: • Facilitate direct contacts among business communities, not only governments like in Phase I • More balance between China and CA, also in the management • Axis Beijing – Tashkent • Cooperation with SCO • Important long-term expansion and spin-offs • National support projects • Ownership issues – shaping of constituency

10. Silk Road Regional Project Key new initiatives • Investment and Business Forum – to become regional tradition to be continued • Silk Road Mayors’ Forum • Special awards: UNDP Silk Road Cities – aiming at launching local initiatives, however not only accept what has been achieved, but stimulate further development. Combine old tradition and new urban concepts