A high-level meeting at COP29, co-organized by the COP29 Presidency, Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan, UNECE and UNESCAP, saw the introduction of the SPECA Multi-Partner Trust Fund, while high-level representatives of SPECA participating States of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) signed the Baku Joint Ministerial Statement on the Establishment of the SPECA Climate and Innovation Dialogue, thus marking a new chapter in regional climate cooperation.  

“As a unique format of interaction for Central Asia, SPECA has great potential for impactful regional cooperation on trade and transport, energy and environment, digitalization, and many other key topics,” noted UNECE Executive Secretary Tatiana Molcean. “The SPECA Multi-Partner Trust Fund and the SPECA Climate and Innovation Dialogue will further advance partnerships and collective solutions to the shared challenges in the region.” 

The recently created SPECA Multi-Partner Trust Fund aims to strengthen the broader SPECA mechanism and accelerate the achievement of its strategic, long-term objectives, namely: 

• Facilitate economic cooperation in the SPECA region; 

• Create incentives for economic development and integration; and 

• Provide a platform for cooperation on transboundary and cross-border issues to support the achievement of the SDGs.  

The Fund will financially support programmes implemented by participating UN organizations and their partners. These programmes will help address common economic development and regional integration challenges in the context of global trends, such as climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, digitalization, the shifting structures of global supply chains and other issues, as well as the SPECA region’s specific needs.  

The emphasis will be on strengthening the SPECA region’s connectivity and on harnessing the positive transformative forces that are needed to achieve the strategic objectives of SPECA. The Fund will ensure that initiatives are adaptive to changing circumstances, with built-in flexibility to keep pace with the shifting development landscape, the inter-connected challenges of sustainable development, and the priorities of the SPECA participating States. 

The Fund is now open for contributions and is expected to be funded through voluntary contributions of SPECA participating States, bilateral and multilateral donors and other partners.  

Launch of the SPECA Climate and Innovation Dialogue 

The SPECA Climate and Innovation Dialogue is a public-private-academia platform that aims to facilitate and promote regional cooperation on climate action, green technology, and innovation. It marks a significant step in putting into practice the recommendations of the 2023 SPECA Economic Forum, which took place on 21-22 November 2023 in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

Proposed by the Government of Azerbaijan, the Dialogue aims to drive progress in several important multi-sectoral areas, including: 

• Long-term low emission development strategies;  

• Nationally Determined Contributions; 

• Climate finance; 

• Energy transition and circular economy;  

• Sectoral planning and initiatives;  

• Human capital;  

• Green technology; and  

• Enabling and supporting innovative entrepreneurship and start-ups experimenting with ideas to put technology and ambition into practice across the region. 

The Dialogue will further build on the cooperation under the SPECA Working Group on Innovation and Technology for Development, and it will support synergies with the activities of the Working Group that contribute to strengthening innovation ecosystems and technologies for sustainable development, as well as overlaps with the UNECE Transformative Innovation Network. 

Through the SPECA Climate and Innovation Dialogue, SPECA participating States will work closely with each other, with UNESCAP and UNECE, as co-conveners of SPECA, as well as international institutions, such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), International Trade Centre (ITC), World Trade Organization (WTO), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Finance Corporation (IFC), Green Climate Fund (GCF), and other international institutions and multilateral development banks.  

It is expected that the Dialogue will be formally made part of SPECA at the SPECA Governing Council in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on 28 November 2024. 

Note to editors  

The United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) was launched in 1998 to strengthen subregional cooperation in Central Asia and facilitate its integration into the world economy. The SPECA participating States are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. UNECE and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) jointly provide overall support and coordination to the programme on the principle of annual rotation. Find out more here.