www.thegreatsilkroad.com Within the framework of regional UNDP Silk Road Programme, on 7-8 June, 2006, in Xian (China) there will be held the first Silk Road Initiative Investment Forum. The representatives of state and private organizations of Central Asia and China, as well as UNDP, SCO and UNGTAD officials will participate in this Forum.
The venue for this vital international event has not been a random choice. For thousand years the Great Silk Road used to be the vital arterial road connecting East and West. The world heritage of this transcontinental thoroughfare includes not only invaluable material and spiritual wealth, but also the humanistic traditions of neibourliness and cooperation.
Today, after Central Asian states – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, gained their independence, the world interest towards the Silk Road countries takes on a special intension. Central Asia with its population exceeding 56 million people, its high economic potential, is an attractive region in terms of economic and cultural cooperation, building-up and regulation of trade flows still traversing the territory along the ancient routes connecting Europe and Asia.
Initiated by UNDP the Silk Road Initiative regional programme is aimed at rendering assistance in regional cooperation and development. The Programme focuses on three directions: trade, investments and tourism.
The Investment Forum in Xian is to stimulate the further attraction of foreign investments to the region, as well as to expand the cooperation between the participating countries, to assist their integration in the world ecomony and politics system, to enhance partnership between state and private sectors in Central Asian countries.
Guided by UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) the Forum will organise specialists to assist in the formulation of national plans, investment project proposals and direct investments in various branches of economy (infrastructure, tourism, hospitality business) of these countries. Working groups will be set up to develop favourable investment climate and mechanisms of investment stimulation in the region. In addition the Forum will explore the possibility of free trade zones along the Silk Road. In cooperation with Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) there will be held workshops on regional trade development.
Silk Road Initiative Investment Forum will be held annually on a rotating basis between Silk Road cities. |