Lasha Khutsishvili, Minister of Finance of Georgia participated in a high-level meeting of Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program (CAREC) on Recovering Regional Cooperation through Digital Transformation held within the scope of an Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the capacity of Chairman of ADB Board of Governors.

Address of the Minister of Finance of Georgia was focused on the ways for CAREC to effectively support a public-private dialogue towards this end.

In his opinion, development of information technologies and digital transformation create the opportunities of digital integration. This process may play a decisive role in further deepening cooperation between CAREC member states in the areas of trade, logistics and financial services.

“Harmonization of administrative procedures, synchronization of transport corridors and logistic systems, electronic exchange of data and documents may only happen through digital integration. CAREC member states should strengthen cooperation towards this end in the post-pandemic period, though government efforts alone will not be sufficient. Dialogue with the private sector has a decisive importance towards this end. We all understand that the ultimate beneficiary of the integration process is the private sector. That is why, it is important to deem businesses as one of the driving forces of the process” noted H.E. Lasha Khutsishvili, Minister of Finance of Georgia.

He also focused on the significance of cooperation between CAREC member states and noted that facilitation of regional trade and formation of logistic corridors are the main causes of the regional economic cooperation within Asia.

“I wish to refer to an utterly important project towards this end, which is supported by the ADB. It is an innovative idea of a common Customs Check-Point between Georgia and Azerbaijan, which is creating not only a solid infrastructure. Project will develop a digital platform, which will be linked with information systems of both countries. We are confident that it will significantly ease the trans-border mobility and may become a good model for the CAREC corridor” noted Lasha Khutsishvili.

According to him, a digital solution for the harmonization of standards between CAREC member states – a coordinated system of data exchange – may increase the potential of the referred corridor.

“In addition, countries should focus on the reforms that will be aimed at deregulating various sectors and boosting the role of the private sector. State owned enterprises (SOEs) in almost every country may play a significant role towards this end, especially in the process of developing the transport corridors. Hence, I wish to stress the importance of SOE Reform. We are witnessing a significant contribution made by the ADB towards all these directions” stated H.E. Lasha Khutsishvili, Minister of Finance of Georgia.

High-level meeting of CAREC at ADB engaged the Director General of the ADB, Ministers of Finance and Economy from CAREC member states, officials of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Tom Stendage, Deputy Editor of The Economist was moderating the forum.