The International Islamic Finance Corporation (ITFC) and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) announced a partnership on Wednesday, 27 November to support exports and investment in Central Asia.
The project, “Boosting exports through Foreign Direct Investment”, will fall under the ITFC’s “Trade Connect Central Asia+” program and include support for Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
On a regional level, the project will create a plan for attracting investment in the wider Central Asia area; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan will benefit from specific support boosting Foreign Direct Investment in their agriculture, digital services, and petrochemical industries.
The project also includes support for individual firms: The ITFC and ESCAP, the UN agency supporting sustainable development in the region, will help companies in the digital and technology sectors attract more investment from abroad and start exporting internationally.
A separate project announced on the same day will boost small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This project sees the ITFC and ESCAP partner with Asian venture capital firm Gobi and development organisation GUIDE to support SMEs and start-ups in exporting digital services and attracting foreign capital.
Jonathan Wong, ESCAP’s Chief of Innovation, Enterprise and Investment, said, “By boosting FDI and enhancing export capacity in key sectors, this initiative will not only promote regional economic cooperation but also support local businesses to grow.”
The world’s eyes were drawn to Central Asia over the past two weeks after COP29, was held in Baku, Azerbaijan. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently announced a $50 million investment in trade finance in Azerbaijan, aimed at integrating the country’s economic system with global markets and boosting exports.
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are growing economies with GDPs the size of Belarus and New Zealand, respectively. Their smaller neighbours could benefit from more access to finance and global markets to catch up to their more prosperous counterparts.
