Jeddah, Almaty, December 2021 - The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)’s Regional Cooperation and Integration (RCI) Department and the IsDB Regional Hub of Almaty (RHA) have agreed on a roadmap of collaboration for the next three years. 

The document, which is the outcome of a series of intensive discussions between the two teams, has been cleared by the COO and the CPO and endorsed by the Vice President, Country Programs.

In order to ensure a smooth implementation of the agreed upon activities, the joint RCI-RHA team has come up with a set of guiding principles of collaboration for a pipeline of projects and activities under the following three clusters:

• Strengthening capacity and facilitating exchange of expertise through Technical Cooperation and Reverse Linkage.
• Promoting regional connectivity, trade and investments.
• Enhancing the Bank’s network of developers and building national ecosystems for South-South and Triangular Cooperation.

The roadmap has already started bearing fruits as the joint RCI-RHA team has recently agreed with the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to carry out a gap analysis on the operational capacity and efficiency of selected border crossing points and overall road safety management in Uzbekistan. The grant operation was approved on 21 December 2021.

The results of the gap analysis would allow the Bank to mainstream a trade facilitation and regional road safety component into the M39 Road Reconstruction Project in Uzbekistan to improve its developmental impact and complement the physical investment with soft connectivity and regional road safety enhancements.

The RCI Department and RHA also agreed to meet twice a year to review the implementation of this roadmap and ensure full alignment with the Updated IsDB Strategy.

The RCI Department currently works together with other Regional Hubs to develop similar collaboration roadmaps that will ensure more internal synergy and complementarity.