AIIB hosts session on Central Asia's cross-border connectivity in Samarkand

AIIB hosts session on Central Asia's cross-border connectivity in Samarkand
Photo credit: Trend

The 9th annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) held a session on “Best Practices for Resilient Cross-Border Connectivity in Central Asia” to discuss key aspects of transport and energy infrastructure development in this strategically important region, Trend reports.

Speakers included Wang Zhongjing, Chief Executive Officer, Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance; May Ali Babiker, Regional Manager, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB); Konstantin Limitovskiy, VP for Investment Clients Region 2 and Project and Corporate Finance, AIIB; Curtis S. Chin, Chair Global Fellows and Senior Advisor, Global Markets, Milken Institute, Sulton Rahimzoda, Chairman of the State Committee on Investments and State Property Management, Republic of Tajikistan, Ruslan Tatikov, Deputy Minister of Finance of Kyrgyzstan and Jon Zaidi, Country Head for Uzbekistan, ACWA Power.

Central Asia plays an important role as a transportation and energy hub linking Asia to Europe. However, landlocked countries in the region face high transportation costs and fragmented electricity grids, making economic integration and cooperation difficult.

“Improving infrastructure connectivity and promoting regional cooperation are central to AIIB’s mission, crucial for boosting competition, productivity, and growth in Asia, particularly in Central Asia”, - remarked panelist Konstantin Limitovskiy, AIIB VP for Investment Clients Region 2 and Project and Corporate Finance, Global. “AIIB aims to invest strategically in infrastructure to enhance domestic and cross-border connections, supporting projects that foster regional integration and cooperation.”

"We are seeing a lot of excitement in the region around renewable energy, and we are the source where it all starts, we are very very excited to have this discussion for increasing opportunities for different ranges of partnerships between governments and private sectors. We can bring renewable energy in a way to position Central Asia as the future hub of renewable energy,"  mentioned Jon Zaidi, Country Head for Uzbekistan, ACWA Power.

During the session, participants discussed how multilateral development banks can effectively work with regions to mobilize capital from international financial institutions and the private sector to improve cross-border connectivity within Central Asia and with neighboring regions such as West and East Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The examples of infrastructure projects provided showed how cross-border connectivity can be enhanced to facilitate trade and investment and highlighted the role of the IFIs in supporting the design, planning and implementation of such projects.

The session concluded with participants noting that successful cross-border infrastructure development in Central Asia requires multilateral financial institutions to work closely with the private sector and neighboring regions to promote sustainable economic development and improve integration between Asia and Europe.

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