Eurasian Development Bank Marks Anniversary With Focus on Growth and Overland Logistics

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) opened its anniversary annual meeting in Almaty amid unprecedented interest in the region, driven by member state economies growing faster than global averages, trade flows shifting toward land corridors, and a combined member GDP set to exceed US$600 billion for the first time this year.

The plenary session, "Eurasia 2030+: Investments, Growth, and New Opportunities," brought together finance and economy ministers from seven shareholder states and served as the starting point for the bank's new five-year strategy for 2027–2031. It was followed by a sector-specific discussion, "Seamless Eurasia," where transport, road construction, and logistics professionals addressed specific bottlenecks on the path to transforming the region into a full-scale logistics hub.

Twenty Years and a New Horizon

Nikolai Podguzov, Chairman of the EDB Management Board, who moderated the plenary session, noted that the bank began in 2006 with two offices in Almaty and five employees. Today, its portfolio exceeds US$20 billion, spans more than 20 countries, and finances projects ranging from Kazakh highways to Armenian industrial zones.

Igor Finogenov, the first Chairman of the EDB Management Board, who attended the forum, noted that the bank survived the 2008 financial crisis and numerous geopolitical shocks while maintaining its mission.

"The bank not only survived but became significantly stronger than we could have dreamed in those two offices twenty years ago," Finogenov said.

A welcoming message from the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, read at the opening, noted that the country's GDP has grown to US$305 billion and, according to IMF forecasts, could reach US$360 billion. The economy expanded by 6.5% last year, which is double the global average rate. The private sector forms about 40% of GDP, and business provides nearly 70% of all investments in the country.

A Region Outpacing the World

Speeches by finance ministers and government representatives detailed a region growing ahead of global dynamics.

Armenia showed real GDP growth of 1.7% over the 2022–2025 period, alongside a construction boom exceeding 20%, while the country's trade turnover tripled over five years. The republic's Minister of Finance reported that the budget deficit is maintained at 3.7% of GDP, and public debt dropped to less than 22%. "We are in a safe zone," he emphasized.

Kyrgyzstan recorded an average GDP growth of 10% for 2021–2025, and the rate accelerated to 12.2% in January–May 2026. A representative of the republic named four strategic vectors leading to 2030: reindustrialization, establishing a regional trade and logistics hub, developing hydropower potential (currently only 13% is utilized), and developing sustainable tourism.

Tajikistan maintains growth above 6% per year. Building the Rogun Hydroelectric Power Plant with a capacity exceeding 3,000 MW was named a strategic priority, a project that Dushanbe considers a key factor for the energy security of the entire region.

Russia, which ranks fourth globally in GDP based on purchasing power parity, is expanding financial flows toward Eurasia. Deputy Minister of Finance Ivan Chebeskov indicated that more than 70% of Russian companies already use artificial intelligence in daily work, and he called the Eurasian transport and logistics space one of the key priorities of the bank's new strategy.

"The EDB is a connecting link, the glue that binds the interests of our economies," Chebeskov said.

Uzbekistan, which joined the bank in 2021, more than doubled its trade turnover with partners in the Eurasian Economic Union over a few years. The combined portfolio of joint projects with EAEU companies is valued in hundreds of millions of dollars. Tashkent attracted over US$19 billion into renewable energy and commissioned 17 GW of new capacity.

The Bank as a "Project Office"

A continuous theme of the plenary session was the role the EDB should play in the next decade. Minister of Finance of Kazakhstan and Deputy Chairman of the Bank's Board Madi Takiev noted that foreign direct investment into the country grew by 14.4% to reach US$20.5 billion, while total capital investments reached a historic record of US$43.5 billion.

Belarus, a leader in non-commodity exports in Eurasia, proposed expanding the bank's function beyond lending. According to a representative from Minsk, the EDB has sufficient expertise to generate project ideas in industry, structure them, and offer competitive financing schemes.

This proposal resonated with several delegations. Kyrgyzstan stated directly that the main constraint on growth is not a lack of ideas, but the inability to turn them into investment projects that meet the requirements of international financial institutions.

"Competition between regions is not only for capital, but also for quality projects. Capital flows to where there are prepared initiatives, transparent procedures, and professional teams," the representative of Bishkek stated.

"Land is More Reliable Than Sea"

The transport session, "Seamless Eurasia," added concrete figures and sharp contradictions to this macroeconomic picture.

Interest in Central Asian corridors rose sharply against the background of instability on maritime routes. Incidents in the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz forced cargo shippers to review logistics chains in favor of overland alternatives.

"Land has stopped being a backup route—it is becoming the primary one," said Alexey Skatin, Senior Managing Director of the Russian Development Bank. Cargo volumes along the North–South corridor have reached nearly 27 million tons per year and could grow to 30 million tons by 2030. The Trans-Caspian route grew six-fold over five years and continues to add 37–40% annually. The total cargo traffic through Central Asia could reach 95 million tons in the future.

80 Million Consumers—Not Just Transit

Skatin drew attention to a factor that often remains in the shadows: a region with a population of about 80 million people is capable of becoming a self-sufficient consumer market, rather than just a transit corridor.

He drew an analogy to Duisburg, Germany—the largest river port in Europe without sea access, which became the terminal point of the China–Europe rail corridor. The countries of Central Asia, he believes, must create similar logistics assets that retain added value within the region.

Data supports this point: in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, the vacancy rate for warehouse space is close to zero, while warehouse availability in Kazakhstan is less than 1 square meter per person, compared to 4 square meters in the United States.

Customs Consumes Half of Transit Time

A survey of transport session participants showed that 35% consider slow customs procedures and a lack of digital infrastructure to be the main obstacles to the seamless movement of goods.

Vadim Zakharenko from the International Road Transport Union (IRU) supported this with a figure, noting that at least 50% of the total transit time is spent crossing borders.

"We can have beautiful roads, but if a truck stands at the border for weeks, it does not help anyone," Zakharenko said, calling for the widespread implementation of the electronic TIR system. Central Asian countries have already shown that joining the TIR convention increased their road transport volumes by 86%.

Zakharenko also asked a rhetorical question that outlined the scale of the task: how far can a truck from China travel through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan toward Europe using a single digital identifier?

Roads Under Strain, Vessels in Queue

The national company KazAvtoZhol is recording a sharp increase in the load on the road network. Chief Engineer Sagikuly reported that the carrying capacity of modern Chinese, European, and Russian trucks frequently exceeds the design standards under which Kazakh roads were built. The company is deploying AI systems to monitor axle loads and is developing a unified digital platform, "EZholdar." The Ministry of Transport is reconstructing 37 border checkpoints.

The situation is similar on the Caspian Sea. Shirkhan Sabubekov from a Kazakh shipping company reported that vessels spend 30% to 40% of their voyage time in ports solely for paperwork processing. The company is responding to the challenge with two projects: building the largest container ship on the Caspian Sea with a capacity of 780 TEU and developing a new-generation ferry designed for two train sets.

Political Will and a Billion on the Horizon

The two sessions concluded with a consensus that technical and financial solutions for the transformation of the region exist, but coordination and political will are lacking.

"Governments simply need to start using the tools that are already there," Zakharenko concluded.

The EDB set a specific goal to form a US$1 billion project portfolio for "roads plus warehouses" over the next 12 months, acting not just as a financial institution but as a project office to consolidate the efforts of state and business.

The bank's new strategy for 2027–2031, approved this week by the board of directors, establishes the Eurasian transport and logistics space as one of the priority areas alongside industrial cooperation and digital transformation.

"The support provided to us by shareholders leaves us no choice but to continue active work," Podguzov said, concluding the plenary session.