The Seventh Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA VII) will be held at a ministerial level with the participation of ministers (Ministers of Foreign or Economic Affairs) and heads of regional and international organizations in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on November 14-15, 2017. With an increasing number of participating countries and organizations which reached a record of 40 countries and 30 regional and international organizations in the RECCA VI (Kabul, September 3-4, 2015), RECCA has now turned into a leading regional cooperation framework aimed at promoting cross-border economic cooperation through a list of prioritized regional economic cooperation and investment projects that are capable of contributing to economic growth, job creation, income generation and confidence building in the wider Central, South and Southwest Asia and beyond.
Building on the outcomes of the previous RECCA meetings, RECCA VII will provide an opportunity to:
- Take stock of the progress made since RECCA VI in Kabul through a comprehensive review of the priority projects including the actions recommended in the RECCA 2016 Review
- Discuss the challenges and bottlenecks as well as the financing and investment needs with respect to the priority projects in key areas of energy; transport networks; trade and transit facilitation; communications; and B2B and labor support,
- Build consensus around concrete steps that need to be taken in the context of ongoing projects,
- Present possible new projects or activities under the abovementioned priority areas,
- Further promote synergy between RECCA, the Heart of Asia- Istanbul Process and other regional cooperation platforms in the wider region.
