OSCE supports OECD in developing investment initiative for Central Asia and Black Sea regions

ISTANBUL, 14 July 2006 - The OSCE joined forces with the OECD at a July 11-12 conference in Turkey to develop an initiative to better co-ordinate efforts to attract more investment to the Central Asia and Black Sea regions.

The OECD and the OSCE organized the Istanbul conference with the support of the Turkish government.

It brought together officials from Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan,  Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Other countries represented included host Turkey, Belgium in its capacity as this year's OSCE Chairman, Greece, Romania,  Russia, Switzerland and the United States. A number of other international organizations also participated.

The meeting explored the possibilities for developing an initiative on investment and development in the Central Asia and Black Sea regions, with the support of donor countries and international organizations.

Bernard Snoy, Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, linked the theme to decisions taken at the 2004 OSCE Economic Forum which specifically called for the OSCE to play a more active role in promoting regional co-operation and exchanging best practices on investment and business development.

"There are many international efforts in the investment promotion field, but rather in bilateral formats, without sufficient coherence between the various actors and actions," he said in his opening statement. "We propose exploring the possibility of joining our forces, to develop a regional approach, to achieve better co-ordination and efficiency."

Conference participants expressed support for developing a new regional initiative. The scheme's key components would be a structured regional approach to improve the investment environment in the regions as well as a Black Sea and Central Asia Economic Outlook prepared by the OECD. The aim is to meet again before the end of 2006 in Istanbul to consider the programme of work and the financial structure of the initiative.