At the ongoing 8th Central Asian Expert Forum in Tashkent, Director of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Zhandos Shaimardanov, in particular, said the following:

– Today, speaking about the new Central Asia, we are witnessing a dramatic change in the landscape of regional partnership. Whereas a few years ago our dialogue was conducted mainly on a bilateral basis, now the focus is on multilateral formats and projects.

It should be noted that Central Asia demonstrates resilience to various external shocks – economic, geopolitical, and climatic. In this process, the coordination of sustainable development strategies, the harmonization of initiatives in the transport, logistics, and energy sectors, as well as the joint promotion of the unified voice of our region on global platforms are more relevant than ever.

I am convinced that in the future we will have not just geographical proximity, but a conscious choice in favor of joint development and making everyday decisions. This is how the partnership we envision will be built.

Speaking about specific measures to develop cooperation in the region, Mr. Shaimardanov stressed that at present we “urgently need a common marketing strategy that will present Central Asia as a region integrated into global value chains, as an economic sector”.

– Central Asia already occupies an essential place in the UN system and has emerged as a recognizable brand from a geopolitical point of view”, the expert continued. “Now we need to back up this significant result with economic content. We must form a unified image of our region as a dynamically developing and interconnected space. At the same time, each country fulfills its own unique logical and strategic task.

In the context of global competition related not only to products and capital, but also to symbols and images, a single brand in Central Asia can become an essential tool for economic attractiveness.

Following his speech, the Head of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies noted that it is necessary not to limit oneself to deepening cooperation at the level of individual states, but to involve representatives of academic and business circles, as well as civil society, in this process.

“This approach will help not only to respond promptly to current threats, but also to predict future trends, as well as adapt more effectively to changes in coordination with partners”, the well-known analyst believes.

G. Khonnazarov, UzA