Integration essential for Central Asia econ cooperation

ALMA-ATA, June 9 (Itar-Tass) - Chairman of the board, Eurasian
Development Bank, Igor Finogenov said integration is essential for
economic development of Central Asia countries. "There is a serious
challenge to the economic development of the countries in the region,
which they cannot meet without regional integration," Finogenov said at
the regional economic forum on Europe and Central Asia in Vienna on
Wednesday.
"One cannot achieve the target results in the innovative sphere
without pooling efforts. For example, an important issue is to develop a
unified infrastructure of the region. This concerns not only electric
power generation, but also transport and water resources regulation. It is
only upon this basis (integration) that industrial clusters can be built -
in agriculture, mining and power engineering,
"This approach would give an impulse to the development of each
country and the whole region in general. The EDB's goal is to contribute
to it in all ways. The investors who actively work in the region are aware
of it. I have no doubt that the political will of the leadership of
Central Asian countries will be aimed at developing this kind of
cooperation," Finogenov said.
He underlined the important significance of the Commonwealth of
Independent States as the first large integration project in the former
USSR, whose objective was keep cooperation ties between the countries that
developed since the "Silk Way" time, which continued to evolve during the
existence of the Soviet Union. "There are obvious achievements: we've kept
the unified railway network that provides for shipments of necessary
cargoes, and partly supported the unified market of electric power," the
EDB official noted.
But much has been lost. That is way the Central Asia region has
initiated and is successfully implementing new integration projects.
They are the idea to set up the Central Asian Union, the activities
within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the
establishment of the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
Speaking about Customs Union prospects, the EDB chairman said "today,
Kyrgyzstan is raising the issue of joining the Customs Union," which is
yet another proof that this association has all the chances to attract to
its ranks as many countries of the Central Asian region as possible.
The European Development Bank is an international financial
organization founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006. EDB's
authorized capital exceeds 1.5 billion dollars. The participants in the
Bank are Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan and Armenia.