This publication shares lessons from performance-based road maintenance contracts implemented in Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, the People’s Republic of China, and Tajikistan. It outlines the contract scope, performance standards, inspections, response and reaction times, payments and deductions, and procurement and contract costs. The publication highlights learning from the different experiences and provides recommendations for future performance-based road maintenance contracts in these and other countries.

Road asset management is one of the top priorities of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy 2020. The implementation of performance-based road maintenance contracts (PBCs)—an essential element of road asset management—promotes effective and efficient maintenance of road networks. Well-designed PBCs keep roads in predefined good condition at relatively low cost. This guide aims to help policy makers in CAREC member countries understand and implement PBCs. After a brief history of the development of PBCs, it discusses the various types of PBCs and their relative advantages and disadvantages. It highlights PBC implementation in selected developed, developing, and transitional countries, including CAREC member countries, to illustrate best practices.

Under the CAREC 2030 framework, a regional trade strategy will provide a more coherent approach to strengthen trade and enhance growth potential of CAREC countries. The CAREC Integrated Trade Agenda (CITA) 2030 aims to support CAREC countries in integrating further with the global economy through trade expansion from increased market access, greater diversification, and stronger institutions for trade. Taking into consideration the countries' capacities and varying levels of progress, CITA 2030 will be implemented in a phased and pragmatic approach including through a three-year rolling strategic action plan.

This publication explains how the 11 member countries of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program can build safer and more competitive transport corridors for people and goods. It gives an overview of each country's road network and identifies how to better collect data to bolster road asset management systems and improve planning. Highlighting the benefits of sharing best practices, the publication offers tips on how to fine-tune performance-based road maintenance contracts. It also shows that by efficiently using budgets, countries can maintain and manage vital transport arteries to help boost sustainable development in the region.

This report shows how smart trade and investment policies, and regulatory cooperation in the Asia and Pacific region can help economies tackle climate change, recover from the pandemic, and support resilient and sustainable development. Analyzing topics including global value chains, investment, the movement of people, and regional cooperation initiatives, it outlines the economic and environmental challenges the region currently faces. It explores how trade and investment policies can support climate action and highlights why a joined-up approach is essential to help deepen the digital economy, strengthen supply chains and foster greener businesses, markets, and trade.

The 2013 Development Effectiveness Review (DEfR) is the seventh annual performance review of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the first to apply the revised corporate results framework. The DEfR uses the 89 performance indicators of the revised framework to assess progress in implementing Strategy 2020, ADB's long-term strategic framework. It evaluates ADB's strengths and identifies areas where performance needs to be improved. The findings of the 2013 DEfR will inform actions to improve ADB's performance.

This publication is the outcome of work of the UNECE Group of Experts on Euro-Asian Transport Links (EATL) in phase III of the project (2013-2017). The report was drafted by a consultant from the Scientific and Research Institute of Motor Transport (NIIAT) in Moscow and is focused both at coordination and facilitation of financing of infrastructural projects, as well as facilitating and removing physical and administrative bottlenecks at border crossings in overland transport between Europe and Asia. The report is a particularly useful tool for transport policy-makers from Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and transit countries in the Euro-Asian region and beyond, in that it, inter alia: i) Identifies and describes main commodity groups for the transport of which inland modes of transport can compete with maritime and aviation modes (incl. non-containerized, containerized and high-value containerized cargo); ii) Provides analysis showing the economic advantage (in terms of time and costs) of inland routes compared to air or maritime routes; and iii) Identifies the current strengths and weaknesses and lists several recommendations to make inland routes more competitive vis-à-vis the other modes. The EATL project's principal value to the market is that it paved the way for the operation of container "block trains". The development of the block trains, the so called "highways of railways" made the Euro-Asian corridors operational, serving as a regular mechanism controlled by the market that evaluates the service levels and requests for greater facilitation, cooperation and investment.

The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Transport Strategy 2030 builds on progress made and lessons learned from the CAREC Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy 2020. It separates trade facilitation from transport and links to the overall CAREC 2030 program in the areas of enhanced connectivity and sustainability. This strategy underscores increasing sustainability and network quality alongside continued construction and rehabilitation of transport corridors, and places more emphasis on multimodal connectivity, road asset management, road safety, and performance-based maintenance goals. The CAREC Transport Strategy 2030 will be implemented in conjunction with the CAREC Integrated Trade Agenda 2030.

"This book, co-published by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), provides guidance for the implementation of trade facilitation measures and reforms in Asia and the Pacific. It attempts to bridge the gaps among policy makers, practitioners, and economists by outlining operational guidance on how to assess the status of trade facilitation, what measures and reforms are necessary, and how to implement them at the national and regional levels. Trade facilitation principles and measures introduced in this reference publication cover the following areas: (1) Publication and Administration of Trade Regulations, (2) Trade Procedures and Documents, (3) Product Standards and Conformance, (4)Trade-related Infrastructure and Services, and (5) Transit Trade."--Site de l'éditeur.