Publications

The findings show that CAREC-WC (CAREC without the PRC) has a higher comparative advantage in labor- and resource-intensive manufacturing sectors, which explains the overdependence of these countries on few export industries.

In the paper, the GMS and CAREC economies are juxtaposed not only for having comparable states of development but also for their past socialist influence, reliance on state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and generally underdeveloped entrepreneurship.

Spanning from the People’s Republic of China through Central Asian countries along the Caspian Sea to Europe, the Trans-Caspian Corridor is an increasingly important channel for transportation and cross-border trade.

This Economic Brief provides data on demography, employment, GDP, and the external sector that show that without international support Afghanistan is likely to suffer severe shortages in all spheres.

The report presents results of the 2021 United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation for ten CAREC members. It presents a detailed analysis based on 58 trade facilitation measures which are classified into four groups ("General Trade Facilitation," "Digital Trade Facilitation," "Sustainable Trade Facilitation," and "Other Trade Facilitation") and further 11 subgroups covering both binding and non-binding WTO TFA measures and measures beyond the scope of WTO TFA+.

The new QEM writes that CAREC members are recovering relatively quickly from the deep recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. GDP levels were 2.8% higher in the first and 2.2% higher in the second quarter of 2021 at constant prices than in the corresponding periods of 2019.

This issue gives details of the 11th Governing Council meeting, 2021 Visiting Fellow Program finalists, also provides links to the Institute’s 2021 knowledge products and media coverage.

Our research on the impact of COVID-19 on micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Georgia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and Kazakhstan looks at how MSMEs coped with the pandemic to explore lessons for policymakers in the CAREC region.

This research commenced at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to review the status of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in four selected CAREC countries, the People's Republic of China (PRC), Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to explore best practices and solutions in the WASH sector and enhance resilience of countries with fragile infrastructure and poor capacity to cope with future natural or manmade disasters in the long term.

This issue announces the findings of the third CAREC Quarterly Economic Monitor, provides details of several webinars on Eura-Asian integration processes, also webinars on promoting regional cooperation among different cooperation frameworks. A joint webinar with China City Development Alliance on optimizing trade and e-commerce is also featured.

Our third CAREC Quarterly Economic Monitor shows that an average CAREC region real GDP growth finally turned positive in the first quarter of 2021, after negative growth rates throughout 2020. The recovery was especially strong in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Countries with a high share of exports going to the PRC, such as Mongolia and Turkmenistan, also profited from this. Higher fuel and metal prices benefitted the CAREC net exporters of mineral fuels and metals.