World Bank aid - The Times Of Central Asia

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World Bank Boosts Kyrgyzstan’s Agricultural Productivity and Climate Resilience

The World Bank has announced funding of $30 million to help boost the productivity and climate resilience of Kyrgyzstan’s dairy and horticulture agri-food clusters. The project will be complemented by a $5 million grant from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. “Recognizing agriculture as a cornerstone of the Kyrgyz Republic's economy, the World Bank prioritizes the sector alongside energy and water in its new 2024-2028 Country Partnership Framework. The new project marks the beginning of a series of initiatives designed to support the Cabinet of Ministers' vision for a modernized, competitive, and climate-resilient agricultural sector," reported Tatiana Proskuryakova, World Bank Regional Director for Central Asia. Running until 2029, the initiative will help producers, processors, and other value chain participants to improve the quality and volume of their produce, access to markets through investment loans, training and capacity building, seed system enhancement, breeding, and information management. It will also focus on enhancing climate adaptation and mitigation through the promotion of climate-smart technologies as well as the employment of digital technology for accessing market information. The project will directly support 8,000 beneficiaries including individual farmers and producers, producer groups, small and medium processors, and other value chain participants in the agri-food clusters of dairy and horticulture. Indirect beneficiaries, numbering 20,000, will comprise farming communities and households of loan and training recipients, in addition to members of broader rural communities who will be afforded better jobs and opportunities to generate income.

CCDR Economic Reforms World Bank aid Kazakhstan

World Bank Supports Economic Reforms in Kazakhstan

Approval was granted on March 14th for the loan of $600 million to Kazakhstan by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors. The loan will be used to implement the first phase of a series of reforms aimed to promote sustainable growth in the country and support Kazakhstan's transition to a more competitive, greener, and inclusive economy. As a carbon-intensive economy, Kazakhstan has ambitions to scale-up action on tackling climate change and reduce reliance on the extraction of natural resources. The reforms aim to increase renewable energy generation, gradually phase out fossil fuel subsidies, improve energy efficiency, and protect poor and vulnerable households. These measures are integral to Kazakhstan’s Nationally Determined Contributions, which are committed to reducing harmful emissions by 25 percent by 2030. “This new partnership with the Government of Kazakhstan supports tangible measures to advance a low-emissions development strategy as part of the global fight against climate change,” said Andrei Mikhnev, World Bank Country Manager for Kazakhstan. Funding provided by the World Bank, with a low-cost and long-term repayment option, will support the government’s reforms in the following areas: In developing greener and more efficient energy, the program implements key recommendations by the Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) to support the reduction of Kazakhstan’s carbon footprint and contribute to global efforts to combat climate change. In developing more competitive digital and financial markets and promoting transparent procurement practices, the program aims to enable more firms to provide digital services, develop safeguards essential for a digital economy, allocate credit to support productivity and increase transparency in procurement practices. In targeting the poor and supporting regional development, reforms aim to strengthen the social protection system and enhance regional development, as part of broader efforts to enhance inclusion and provide greater opportunities nationwide.

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World Bank Group Landmark Visit to Central Asia

The World Bank Group Board of Executive Directors has concluded a landmark visit to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The Board reported that it had welcomed the opportunity to observe first-hand, Central Asian developments in tackling climate change within the prism of the water-energy nexus, the private sector’s growing address of green issues, and gender equality. Ten executive directors met with high-ranking officials and local stakeholders to discuss ongoing and future support provided by the International Development Association (IDA) to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and in Kazakhstan, focused on the World Bank Central Asia regional program. In Kyrgyzstan, the delegation attended a meeting with President Sadyr Japarov, Akylbek Japarov the Cabinet of Ministers chairman, and other officials. Visits were made to World Bank-funded project sites for water and sanitation, education, and disaster risk management, as well as a MIGA-guaranteed smart farm of hydroponic greenhouses and IFC agri-food processing projects. In addition to discussions with Tajikistan’s president Emomali Rahmon and his cabinet, the delegation toured the Rogun hydropower plant site and World Bank-financed projects on early childhood development and the improvement of health services. A meeting also took place with IFC investment beneficiaries in Dushanbe. The visit to Kazakhstan, included a World Bank-financed oncology centre, and a tour of the Almaty Airport, an IFC project site. The World Bank Group's key objectives in Central Asia are fostering robust recovery from recent crises, enhancing climate resilience, creating jobs, and protecting the countries’ most vulnerable populations. Dominique Favre, the World Bank’s Executive Director for Switzerland, who also represents the constituencies of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Poland, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, praised the regions’ progress and reiterated the company's commitment to helping Central Asian countries tackle ongoing challenges, particularly concerning water, energy, and agriculture.

World Bank aid Climate Change

World Bank to Help Increase Kyrgyzstan’s Resilience to Climate Change

A $45 million financing package for the Kyrgyz Republic Resilient Landscape Restoration Project, to be implemented until 2029, was approved by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on February 27th. Complemented by a $5 million grant from the Global Partnership for Sustainable and Resilient Landscapes (PROGREEN) and a $2.4 million grant from the Korea–World Bank Partnership Facility (KWPF), the project aims to increase sustainable landscape management in selected locations in Kyrgyzstan and promote regional collaboration among Central Asian countries on transboundary landscape restoration. “We are pleased to assist the Kyrgyz Republic's Cabinet of Ministers in increasing the resilience of landscapes and communities to climate-induced hazards, and by enhancing the government’s capacity to monitor glaciers, snow cover, and mudflows, implement measures to adapt to and mitigate climate change,” announced Naveed Hassan Naqvi, World Bank Country Manager for the Kyrgyz Republic. “This project is an important step towards building a more resilient future for the people of the Kyrgyz Republic and will also have a positive impact on neighbouring countries.” The World Bank has affirmed that once in place, the project will directly benefit over 50,000 individuals in the most vulnerable, targeted rural areas of Jalal-Abad, Osh, Issyk-Kul, and Naryn, and communities located upstream of transboundary rivers. According to a 2018-19 study by the Central Asian Institute of Applied Geosciences, Kyrgyzstan’s glaciers have decreased by 16% over the past 50 years. The Ministry of Natural Resources earlier warned that many of the country’s 6,500 glaciers — which cover over 8,000 square kilometres and contain an estimated 650 cubic kilometres of freshwater — could shrink by 50% by 2050 and even completely disappear by the end of the century.