The Fifth CAREC Think Tank Development Forum "Economic Corridors: Pathways to Regional Growth"
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The 5th CAREC Think Tanks Development Forum (CTTDF) was organized on 23-24 November 2021 by the CAREC Institute in partnership with the ADB-Regional Knowledge Sharing Initiative (ADB-RKSI), and the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers (TIAME) in virtual format. This year, the forum was themed “Economic Corridors: Pathways to Regional Growth.” The CTTDF is organized annually under the auspices of the CAREC Think Tanks Network (CTTN) which was established in 2017 during the second forum.
The forum was meant to provide innovative solutions for promoting economic cooperation by recognizing the importance of regional perspectives. Numerous prominent think tanks and universities from 11 countries of the CAREC region are members of this network. The CTTN tries to enhance systemic regional knowledge sharing; foster policy research and knowledge solutions to support governments; enable better policy advice; reduce gaps between research and policy; and enhance collective intelligence to consolidate development resources for effective cooperation, better services, and improved performance.
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 second CTTDF was held in Urumqi, the PRC, in September 2017 with the theme of “Exploring Knowledge Solutions for Regional Cooperation and Integration.” The third forum was conducted in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in July 2018 under the theme of “Building Knowledge Corridors along the Silk Road.” The fourth forum took place in Xi’an, the PRC, with the topic of “Trading for Shared Prosperity” in August 2019.
The 5th forum also discussed the Almaty-Bishkek economic corridor, Shymkent-Tashkent-Khujand corridor, China-Pakistan economic corridor, and related topics. It was argued that economic corridors which are characterized by superior connectivity (including transport and digital connectivity), seamless movement of goods and people across borders, extensive cross-border trade and investment flows, also cross-border value-chains and clusters of economic activity, can help CAREC members attract more FDI and international tourists; develop urban agglomerations, manufacturing and the service sector; and diversify the composition of exports beyond primary commodities.