The New Silk Road: Ten Years of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program

This commemorative book celebrates 10 years of productive collaboration under the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program. Under CAREC, its member countries have made significant gains in regional transport, energy infrastructure, and trade facilitation and policy, which have increased both the pace and quality of development in the subregion. The spirit of trust and confidence that has evolved through the years among good neighbors and good partners has led to better prospects for all.

This publication serves as testimony to what can be achieved through regional cooperation. But more than just being an archive of accomplishments, this volume should also inspire us to reach for greater heights and wider horizons in the next decade. All too soon, our achievements will be part of the past, but it is the strength of our collective commitment that will carry us through the future.

As CAREC moves to a higher plane, the mutual trust that has evolved through the years will be increasingly vital to deal with the challenges ahead. Guided by the CAREC 2020 strategy, ADB is committed to deepening its partnership with CAREC toward an era of cohesive cooperation, constructive competition, and a conflict-free community in Central Asia by 2020.

The New Silk Road: Ten Years of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program x

Opportunities for men and women.Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia

The countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia have a long history of striving for gender equality, especially in the public sphere. Not only was this an important goal during the socialist era, but governments continued to pursue gender equality even during the difficult years of transition. The governments in the region allocated substantial resources toward the health and education of both women and men. They also adopted legislation that treated women and men equally in the labor market and they provided child care services.

During much of the last century, the region surpassed countries both developing and developed in establishing the equal treatment of women and men. This report analyzes various markets through a gender lens. It thereby quickly makes two main findings. First, our knowledge of why men and women behave differently is limited. For example, why do women pursue certain fields in education that men tend to avoid or why do more women than men migrate from some countries. Second, average economic indicators can be misleading because they hide the differences in behavior across large groups (in our case, males and females). The importance of the adoption of a gender lens in the development of policies in the region derives in no small part from the high stakes resulting from the dramatic demographic changes and mounting labor resource needs.

Moreover, such a lens helps countries identify the necessary and appropriate policy and institutional framework to allow them to take advantage of underexploited opportunities (for example, bringing more educated women of prime age into the labor force). Ultimately, the use of disaggregated data to undertake analysis will likely lead to better policies that further the long-term objective of shared growth

World Bank. Author: Sattar,Sarosh.Document Date:2011/11/21.Document Type:Working Paper.Report Number: 65932.Volume No: 1 of 1

Opportunities for men and women.Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia

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A trio of perspectives on corruption:bias,speed money and "grand theft infrastructure"

A number of recent survey articles express hope that new data from enterprise surveys would shed new light on corruption complementing the corruption perception index by Transparency International. The paper explores this using the World Bank's Enterprise Survey data globally and not just the data on Eastern Europe and Central Asia that have been used before.

The authors find that in general the Enterprise Survey data provide aggregate views on corruption that are similar to the corruption perception index. However, massive differences exist for key countries, such as China and India. This suggests that idiosyncratic, country-specific biases are at work in one or both data sources. The authors use the Enterprise Survey data and relate them to measures of bureaucratic complexity from the World Bank's Doing Business data, finding that more red tape is associated with higher corruption.

The data are also consistent with the view that bribe payments reduce the burden of red tape. Finally, the paper looks at corruption in infrastructure. It has been suggested that the natural monopoly characteristics of infrastructure provide the lever to extract bribes. However, based on data on price-cost gaps, the authors find that infrastructure ventures in power and water typically charge prices below cost in developing economies, not anywhere near monopoly prices.

Furthermore, the Enterprise Surveys do not suggest that infrastructure-related bribe payments are more significant than those, for example, related to tax payments or various forms of licensing. Existing sources on bribery surrounding specific projects suggest that the value of bribe payments may not be the biggest problem but the choice of uneconomic and inefficient projects. If infrastructure ventures were entirely dependent on revenue from user fees, they could not afford to pursue inefficient projects, thus reducing the cost of corrupt activity to society. Monopoly pricing would be better than the typical current pricing policy.

Author:Kenny,Charles;Klein,Michael;Sztajerowska,Monika;Document Date:2011/11/01.Document Type:Policy Research Working Paper.Report Number:WPS5889.Volume No:1 of 1

A trio of perspectives on corruption:bias,speed money and "grand theft infrastructure"

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IFC Risk Certification Program Helps Boost Financial Sustainability in Central Asia

worldbank.Tashkent, Uzbekistan, November 25, 2011—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing financial risk-management training to institutions in Azerbaijan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, helping them reduce their risk of losses.

As part of the first round of the Risk Certification Program implementation, IFC conducted review classes on the fundamentals of financial risk on November 17-24 in Tashkent. The review classes focus on risk-management methodologies, governance structures for the management of risk in financial institutions, and an overview of globally accepted standards and concepts in these areas.

The program is organized in partnership with the Global Association of Risk Professionals, a globally recognized leader in financial-risk testing and certification programs, and educational and training activities.

Representatives of the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan and local training partners (Regional Baking Training Center and Federation of Accountants, Auditors and Consultants of Uzbekistan) joined the classes and passed GARP’s certification exam in Tashkent. Local training partners will further train staff of local banks and financial institutions during the second phase of the program. The review classes were held in Azerbaijan in September and in the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan in October.

“Risk management is important aspect of stability of the banking system”, said Jahongir Abdurasulov, Deputy Director of Department of licensing and coordination of credit organizations’ activity at the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan. ”The banks are looking for good risk-management practices and are trying to test various methods. IFC’s Risk Certification Program, the first in the region, provides a unique opportunity to improve my knowledge of risk management from an international perspective.”

This training initiative is part of the IFC Azerbaijan-Central Asia Financial Markets Infrastructure Advisory Services Project, and the IFC Financial Markets Crisis Management Project, which are funded by Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

“IFC’s Risk Certification Program provides local banks and microfinance institutions access to globally acknowledged financial risk-management concepts and standards,” said Rolf Behrndt, IFC Regional Business Line Manager. “We hope as many bank and microfinance organization employees as possible will take these opportunities to expand their knowledge of financial risk management and earn certificates from the Global Association of Risk Professionals.”

IFC aims to strengthen financial markets in the region by strengthening credit information systems and risk-management practices and education, as well as by facilitating the resolution of distressed loans.

Available in: Uzbek, русский

About IFCIFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, providing advisory services to businesses and governments, and mobilizing capital in the international financial markets. In fiscal 2011, amid economic uncertainty across the globe, we helped our clients create jobs, strengthen environmental performance, and contribute to their local communities—all while driving our investments to an all-time high of nearly $19 billion. For more information, visit www.ifc.org

About GARPThe Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) is a not-for-profit global membership organization dedicated to preparing professionals and organizations to make better informed risk decisions. Membership represents nearly 150,000 risk management practitioners and researchers from banks, investment management firms, government agencies, academic institutions, and corporations from more than 195 countries. GARP administers the Financial Risk Manager (FRM®) and the Energy Risk Professional (ERP®) exams; certifications recognized by risk professionals worldwide. GARP also helps advance the role of risk management via comprehensive professional education and training for professionals of all levels. www.garp.org.

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