On 18 October, a 16-member Chinese delegation left Beijing on a study tour to Central Asia. The tour, organised and funded by the Silk Road Initiative, sought to promote and facilitate Chinese investment in the Central Asian region. During this two-week mission, the delegation explored investment opportunities in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, visited various enterprises, and established contacts with potential business partners.
Only a few sectors were chosen as priority areas for the tour in order to keep a good focus. Relative to the investment needs of the three countries, and to the interests of delegation members, the following areas were selected: the textile industry (silk and cotton), agricultural processing, the garment industry, machine manufacturing, building materials, and IT.
A business sector delegation tour such as this is among the first of its kind supported by UNDP in this region. Ten or fifteen years ago a similar mission might have only consisted of government officials, whereas the present tour included not only the aforementioned officials, but also company CEO's, business promotion agents, a researcher, and a journalist.
This difference signals an important shift in how development work is carried out. The business sector, especially the private sector, is playing an increasingly important role in development efforts. In a continued bid to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the SRI supports the forging of solid economic and multilateral ties, across all levels of society. In order to build strong Public Private Partnerships, the SRI engages in a range of working-level activities, with study tours being one example.
Another key event for the SRI is next year's Investment Forum. The experience gained, and the contact networks established during the study tour, will hopefully, contribute towards a rich and constructive Investment Forum.
Central Asia remains a relatively unknown region, and the entrepreneurs' knowledge of its business climate and opportunities was limited. In order to provide delegation members with relevant background information, as well as a chance to get further acquainted, a preparatory meeting was organised at the UNDP prior to departure. Resource persons from the three respective embassies, officials from CICETE and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were invited to share their views and information.
Nevertheless, it takes more than one meeting and one trip to create fully operational frameworks for cooperation. Chen Ting, the reporter accompanying the delegation, has described the mission in three different articles. He highlights a lack of common ground between the Chinese businessmen and their CA counterparts, due to discrepancies in development levels between China and the CA region.
However, and despite different stages of growth, specific business proposals have been formulated and are being studied by Chinese experts, and follow-up missions on behalf of the Chinese enterprises are being prepared.
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This article appeared in the January 2006 issue of the SRI Newsletter which can be downloaded under 'Documents' on this website. Please also refer to this newsletter for a summary of the three articles written by Chen Ting.
