BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 1. The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and UN-Habitat have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop urban development projects in Eastern Europe and Central Asia during today's online meeting.
According to EDB, the agreement covers cooperation across the full project cycle, from identifying ideas to preparing and implementing urban development initiatives. It will combine the EDB’s project and financing expertise with UN-Habitat’s experience in housing and sustainable urban development.
The memorandum was signed during a meeting between the EDB and UN-Habitat attended by EDB Chairman of the Management Board Nikolai Podguzov. UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach participated online.
The initial cooperation will focus on four areas: technical assistance, including the preparation and strengthening of urban projects; capacity building for national and local authorities and utility organizations; digitalization, including urban digital infrastructure, data and artificial intelligence; and analytics, including joint research and knowledge sharing.
“We consider urban development an important priority, particularly in Central Asia. The bank already has experience with digital solutions for urban infrastructure. In Dushanbe, we are creating an electronic city map that helps the city administration manage utilities, property and urban processes. Cooperation with UN-Habitat will allow us to take a more systematic approach to preparing urban development projects and draw on the UN’s global expertise,” Podguzov said.
Rossbach said the global housing crisis, affecting up to 3.4 billion people, presented a major development challenge.
“No single institution or country can solve it alone. We need multilevel cooperation and engagement across all areas,” she said.
She added that cooperation with the EDB would help turn shared commitments into concrete action to provide adequate housing and develop inclusive, safe and sustainable cities and communities.
UN-Habitat will contribute expertise in urban planning, affordable housing, urban governance, climate resilience and basic urban services. The EDB will provide its financial, institutional and regional expertise to support development initiatives.
The sides will jointly develop urban projects and explore potential financing and investment mechanisms, linking the priorities of cities and countries with technical expertise, project preparation and potential financing.
The EDB already has experience in urban development projects. In Dushanbe, the bank’s Digital Initiatives Fund is financing the creation of an electronic city map platform, a unified system for managing urban infrastructure. The project is being implemented jointly with Smart City, a state enterprise under the Dushanbe city administration.
The EDB also cooperates with other UN agencies. Together with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the bank has implemented a project to exchange experience among energy-sector specialists from Central Asian countries.
In Kazakhstan, the EDB and the UN Development Programme are implementing a $5.3 million irrigation development project. In Tajikistan, the bank is working with the UN World Food Programme on projects related to wheat flour fortification.
