31 December 2012

Central Asian Regional Integration and Cooperation

Reality or Mirage?

Collective Security Council meeting Kremlin, Moscow 2012.

This paper considers the prospects for regional economic integration and cooperation in Central Asia. In doing so, it 1) overviews the importance of Central Asia to broader Eurasian forms of integration; 2) outlines the perceived obstacles to and benefits of fulfilling this goal, as illustrated by like-minded attempts in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and North America; 3) looks at four of the most important attempts to foment cooperation across Central Asia thus far – i.e., EurAsEC, the SCO, CAREC and Euro-Atlantic initiatives related to Afghanistan; and 4) provides a definitive answer to the original question of whether regional integration and cooperation in Central Asia is possible or simply a mirage.

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