Objective and brief summary of the project: 
The objective of this project is to strengthen the capacity of SPECA to support countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through sub-regional cooperation. The United Nations launched the SPECA programme in 1998 to strengthen subregional cooperation in Central Asia and its integration into the world economy. UNECE and UNESCAP jointly support the Programme. The SPECA participating countries (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) attach high importance to the Programme as a unique instrument bringing them together in the search of joint solutions. The Programme operates through six thematic working groups on water, energy and enviromnent, transport, trade, knowledge-based development, gender and economy, and statistics. In 2015, after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the SPECA Governing Council decided that the Programme would become a platform for sub-regional cooperation for the implementation of SDGs. Since 2018, Kazakhstan makes voluntary contributions aiming to strengthen the Programme as a platform for subregional cooperation to achieve the SDGs.