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Turkmenistan is chairing the CAREC (Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation) Program, the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported.

This issue was raised during a government meeting in Ashgabat.

“With Turkmenistan’s chairmanship in CAREC, cooperation in the fields of energy, trade, customs, transport, tourism, creation of economic zones will be increased,” Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said at the meeting.

CAREC, initiated by ADB, brings together 11 countries (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). Since 2001, as part CAREC, more than $31.5 billion of investment has been mobilized to develop a multimodal transport route in the region, addressing issues of energy trade, security and others.

An integrated trade program for the period until 2030 has been recently adopted during the 17th CAREC Ministerial Conference in Ashgabat.

Takehiko Nakao, head of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), said at the conference that the program will help countries expand trade through more open trade policies, removal of barriers and simplified procedures. He said the document is intended to strengthen economic diversification, including trade in services and e-commerce.

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