Ministers of Energy of CAREC (Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation) countries have recently signed a declaration in Tashkent about development of the general energy strategy for the period until 2030, Interfax-Kazakhstan agency reports, citing the press service of the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan.  

The declaration envisages increase of electricity generation out of alternative sources and reflects obligations of countries to work out a general energy strategy, cooperating for reaching the UN’s goal on “affordable and clean energy”. The declaration participants have assumed an obligation to double electricity generation out of solar and wind farms by 2023, as well as create a favorable legal framework of the investors in order to increase investments in the energy sector.

“Uzbekistan is committed to financially and environmentally sustainable energy sector. We count on cooperation with other states of the CAREC region and with international sources of capital in order to achieve our goals”, Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Alisher Sultanov said at the meeting.

The new CAREC-2030 energy strategy is being developed through cooperation with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The goal of the strategy is to create reliable, stable, sustainable and reformed energy markets in the region, the report states.

The declaration was signed on the threshold of the United Nations summit dedicated to sustainable development objectives, which will take place in New York on September 24-25.

The CAREC program was created at the initiative of ADB in 2001. Participants of CAREC are as follows: Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.