ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan -

Participants from nineteen countries and the European Union, international and regional organizations, financial institutions, business and academia arrived in Ashgabat for a two-day meeting to discuss concrete projects on economic cooperation between Central Asia and Afghanistan, ranging from infrastructure to technical assistance and focusing on the priorities of the Afghan National Development Strategy: trade, transport, investment, infrastructure and the joint management of natural resources. The meeting is also expected to start the elaboration of a plan of action for economic cooperation between Central Asia and Afghanistan.

This is a follow-up event to the 2010 Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) Economic Forum. The meeting is organized by the Government of Turkmenistan, as the current SPECA Chairmanship, together with the economic commissions for Europe (UNECE) and Asia-Pacific (ESCAP) and the United Nations Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA).