Consultations between EC IFAS and ADB

On August 12, 2024, an online consultation took place between the Executive Committee of IFAS (International Fund for saving the Aral Sea) and representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) regarding the establishment and development of partnership relations within the framework of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program, for which ADB serves as the Secretariat.
All five founding states of IFAS — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan — have extensive experience working with ADB and actively participate in the CAREC Program, established by the Bank in 1997 to promote economic cooperation between Central Asian countries and neighboring regions of the Caucasus and South Asia.
Agriculture and water resources, particularly in the context of accelerating climate projects, are key sectors of the CAREC Program. Given the alignment of goals and objectives, as well as the geographic scope of the activities of IFAS, ADB, and CAREC, the possibility of implementing regional projects from the Action Programme for assistance to the countries of the Aral Sea Basin (ASBP-4), approved by the IFAS Governing Board Decision on June 29, 2021, and set to run until 2030, was discussed.