The fifth CTTDF was organized on 23-24 November 2021 under the theme of "Economic Corridors: Pathways to Regional Growth" in collaboration with the ADB-PRC Regional Knowledge Sharing Initiative (RKSI) and the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers (TIIAME). Over 150 representatives of member governments, think tanks, universities, development partners, international organizations, and individual consultants attended the forum. The forum speakers presented their perspectives and experiences exploring the economic case for developing the economic corridors, stocktaking of progress made on CAREC and BRI corridors and learning from the best practices in comparable regions such as the Greater Mekong Sub-region, South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Program, and sub-national level corridors in Malaysia. The forum concluded that economic corridors are important tools for creating new economies by connecting factors of production through an integrated infrastructure linking cities and countries. For the CAREC region, the development of economic corridors offers immense opportunities for growth and development. The speakers also noted that the development of economic corridors is a complex and costly undertaking that necessitates multi-layered cooperation among governments, development partners, and the private sector. For the fifth Forum report, please visit here.

The fourth CTTDF was organized in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Regional Knowledge Sharing Initiative (RKSI) and International Economics and Finance Institute (IEFI) of the Ministry of Finance of the PRC on 27-28 August 2019 with a theme of "Trading for Shared Prosperity" in one of the ancient cities and starting points of the Silk Road, Xian, Shaanxi Province, the PRC. The Forum brought together 130 participants from think tanks, academia, the private sector, and governments to deliberate on trade expansion from increased market access, greater diversification, and stronger institutions for trade under the CAREC Integrated Trade Agenda (CITA) 2030 in the context of heightened US-PRC trade tensions and expansion of disruptive technologies. For the fourth Forum report, please visit here.

Realizing its role as a knowledge arm of the CAREC 2030, the CAREC Institute partnered with the National Institute of Strategic Studies (NISS) of the Kyrgyz Republic to organize the 3rd CTTDF in Bishkek in July 2018 with a thematic focus on building knowledge corridors along the Silk Road. Over 100 participants deliberated on the concept of knowledge corridors as an interconnected web of thoughts and ideas of knowledge enablers (government), knowledge articulators (sector experts), knowledge generators (research entities), and knowledge transformers (business sector) to translate knowledge into tangible gains and advance regionalism for shared prosperity. For the third Forum report, please visit here.

The second CTTDF was held in Urumqi, PRC, in September 2017 with the theme of "Exploring Knowledge Solutions for Regional Cooperation and Integration." The 2nd Forum was organized in partnership with ADB and ADB-Regional Knowledge Sharing Initiative (RKSI) and discussed the topics on regional economic cooperation and integration, avenues for cooperation in infrastructure and trade, and institutional developments of think tanks in the region. During the Forum, the participants adopted the "Urumqi Declaration" - a founding document to officially establish the CAREC Think Tanks Network. For the second Forum report, please visit here.

The CAREC Institute hosted the first CTTDF in June 2016 in Astana, Kazakhstan, with the theme of "Promoting Economic Cooperation for an Integrated Central Asia." The Forum was successfully organized in partnership with the Graduate School of Public Policy of Nazarbayev University and with support from ADB and the Government of Kazakhstan. The Forum focused on three main themes: i) economic prospects of Central Asia, ii) necessities, opportunities and challenges of strengthening connectivity of infrastructures in Central Asian region, and iii) building a knowledge sharing network among CAREC member countries.