Publications

Our new policy brief on harnessing the role of technology in promoting safe tourism destinations in CAREC overviews losses incurred in the industry owing to the pandemic, discusses some deep-rooted challenges, lists benefits of technology application, and provides recommendations for CAREC members, also for multilateral development partners to revive the tourism industry and enhance its experience.

This report summarizes the discussion of the virtual workshop jointly organized by the CAREC Institute and the Public Opinion Research Institute of Kazakhstan (PORI) delivered on 12 March 2021 with the aim to share the results of the vaccination perception polls in seven CAREC countries conducted under the CAREC Institute-PORI project. It provides differences, similarities, lessons for successful vaccination campaigns, and lists potential cooperation areas among CAREC countries explored.

The March 2021 conference tried to identify means to revisit and rethink past, present, and future of CAREC in the wake of the pandemic and catalyze research on acute topics including e-commerce taxation, e-government, fintech, tourism, debt sustainability, energy sector, workforce adaptability to the new normal, and many more. This report included the analysis and policy recommendations.

In this issue, we cover the CAREC Regional Integration Index with new data and findings, give details of SPS modernization developments in CAREC, announce research grants program and research conference, also narrate about the PRC’s 14th five-year-plan and new publications on CAREC.

This report provides summary of a 24 February 2021 workshop titled “Modernizing Sanitary-Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures in CAREC and Use of Digital Certification” organized jointly by the CAREC Institute and the Asian Development Bank.

The CAREC Institute has updated the data for the CAREC Regional Integration Index (CRII) which measures progress in regional economic cooperation and integration among the 11 member countries of the ADB-supported CAREC Program.

In this issue, we provide details of the border-crossing improvement workshop and share several other workshop reports.

This workshop report summarizes contents of the virtual workshop conducted during 14-22 January 2021 by the CAREC Institute and ADB on the topic of border crossing improvement with participation of project managers of the ADB-funded projects and international development partners who shared lessons of border improvement projects and relevant acute topics with other CAREC representatives.

In a new working paper on financial inclusion and fintech in CAREC, our staff discuss financial inclusion as an imperative to achieving economic growth in a globalized market, and as an essential element to accomplish important objectives, such as poverty alleviation, anti-corruption measures, employment, social equity, and wealth redistribution.

Urban areas all over the PRC have embraced a wide range of solutions to reduce energy consumption, green and clean their energy supply, transform the concept of waste, promote green and blue spaces, and improve urban mobility. Each of the 50 featured solutions—some are projects sponsored by the Asian Development Bank (ADB)—shows how cities take climate actions and also create valuable co-benefits in terms of positive impacts on citizens’ public health and quality of life, as well as providing economic and additional environmental benefits.

The “Macroeconomic Monitoring and Forecasting of the CAREC region” (MMF) research study provides a learning tool for conducting analysis of state of the economy; forecast near-term challenges and prospects of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) member economies.

The Almaty–Bishkek Economic Corridor fact sheet explains the corridor concept and its application through Almaty–Bishkek Economic Corridor development, shows the achieved milestones, and outlines the tasks ahead.

This publication is meant to be a practical resource for policy makers to improve the underlying conditions required for good road maintenance.

In this paper, we propose a panel approach in the construction of the Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation and Integration Index (ARCII) to strengthen the index’s ability to track the progress of economic integration in the region over time.

The CAREC Institute’s (CI) first annual report 2017 details many achievements that CI has made since its virtual presence to a physical base establishment gradually occupying a niche of a leading knowledge center for the region. The sustained effort has been made to stimulate the institutional development of the CI, and achieve targets stipulated by the Governing Council of eleven member countries. This report also provides an overview of the CI’s major activities for the next year.

The CAREC Institute (CI) 2018-2022 strategy provides a framework for supporting the CAREC member countries through knowledge generation, knowledge services, and knowledge management. The document builds upon the foundation established by the CI in previous years and aligns objectives with CAREC 2030 priorities. During 2018-2022, the CI will focus on two main strategic goals - institutional strengthening and operational excellence - and invite the member countries, partners, and other stakeholders to adopt these shared priorities. The CI will drive progress through seven strategic objectives which highlight meaningful ways that CI can focus on its workforce, achieve financial sustainability, advance research mechanisms, strengthen knowledge management, up-scale knowledge services, and promote partnerships and networking with other entities.