By Farkhod Tolipov

July 27th, 2016, The CACI Analyst

50 years ago, Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent hosted a summit ending the India-Pakistan war of 1965, resulting in the Tashkent Declaration. It was, so to speak, a Soviet “Camp David” aimed at bringing two antagonists – India and Pakistan – to peace. The SCO summit of June 2016 was, symbolically speaking, a second – multilateral – platform created in the same place, Tashkent, for the same two states to restore peace. Yet this summit did not appear to be a second Tashkent “Camp David,” but rather a challenge for the SCO itself. 

By Rohullah Osmani

January 21st, 2016, The CACI Analyst

The groundbreaking ceremony of the US$10 billion natural gas pipeline project linking Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India (TAPI) took place in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on December 13, 2015, with the Afghan President, India’s Vice-President and Pakistani Prime Minister in attendance. The breakthrough on the long-delayed TAPI gas pipeline project came when the 22nd TAPI Steering Committee, consisting of representatives of the participating countries, as well as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as the acting transactional advisor for the project, approved Turkmenistan’s state-owned Turkmengaz as the consortium leader to oversee efforts in constructing, financing and operating the 1,000 mile long natural gas pipeline. 

By Najia Badykova

January 15th, 2016, The CACI Analyst

On November 24, a Japanese delegation met in Ashgabat with the deputy foreign ministers of five Central Asian states in a “Central Asia plus Japan” format to discuss regional security, sustainable development, trade and investment, as well as regional cooperation and disaster prevention. In October, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited all of the Central Asian states as a part of Tokyo’s efforts to strengthen economic relations with the resource-rich region, holding talks with Central Asian leaders mainly devoted to the energy issue. This is an important shift in Japanese foreign policy. Its long-time competitor China is already established in Central Asia and Tokyo’s recent initiatives have been described as part of the growing competition between China and Japan. 

By Carolin Funke

October 6th, 2015, The CACI Analyst

In the absence of Euro-Atlantic guarantees for deeper economic and political integration, Georgia is further diversifying its cooperation with states outside the Western hemisphere. Over the last year, Georgia has particularly been strengthening ties with the People’s Republic of China, which seeks to increase its presence in the South Caucasus as part of its Silk Road Economic Belt. Due to declining Western involvement in the region, the U.S. and European Union have little reason to complain about Tbilisi’s new alignments. Nevertheless, anchoring China as a long-term player in the region will likely lead to a further decline of Western influence in Georgia.

By Rafis Abazov

October 8th, 2015, The CACI Analyst

During his recent visit to China, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a series of trade agreements and Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) on 48 projects valued at about US$ 30 billion. The Minister of Economic Affairs, Yerbolat Dosayev, has called the Chinese market one of the “main markets for Kazakhstan.” The Kazakh government also reiterated its support for the Beijing-instigated “Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB)” initiative and agreed to continue working on several large infrastructure projects. But opinions of Kazakh experts on the SREB are divided. Some believe China’s financial backing will strengthen trade and lead to economic growth, but others are skeptical, claiming it would conflict with the U.S.´s “New Silk Road” initiative.