Русский
Officials of the member countries of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) programme have held negotiations on the draft agreement on the CAREC Trade and Investment Facilitation Partnership Agreement (CARTIF), the Tajik Economic Development and Trade Ministry has said.
CARTIF envisages the creation of a comprehensive and transparent regional cooperation mechanism to facilitate cross-border trade and investment among CAREC countries. The document also aims to develop digital technologies, logistics and the innovation economy in order to ensure sustainable and mutually beneficial trade in the region. This will dovetail with infrastructure developments in both China and Russia to digitize their domestic logistics networks and speed up export, import and transit efficiencies.
CAREC members include, from west to east, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China, Mongolia, and to the south, Turkmenistan and Pakistan.
Russia is not a member of this group, however many of these countries have free trade agreements with Russia via the Eurasian Economic Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Any improvement of Central Asian logistics and trade dynamics as seen in the links above will significantly and positively impact Russian trade in the CAREC region. Russia remains a major trading partner for Central Asia, with total trade estimated at around US$50 billion and with China at US$240 billion.
Following the negotiations, the CAREC members confirmed their willingness to continue consultations and hold further rounds of negotiations to develop the proposed agreement.
On November 20, 2025, the CAREC countries adopted the Bishkek Ministerial Declaration, which officially launched the negotiations on CARTIF that were scheduled to begin this year and have now begun.
