scholarly journals The Development and Interregional Integration Processes of Afghanistan

Author(s):  
Nuriddin Kayumov

The given report considers the integration processes within the Central Asian Region and EAEC region space and their influence on economic situation of Afghanistan. It is emphasized, that the globalization of the world economy, new challenges and threats, especially intraregional integration becomes the predominant tendency of the world economy. Today practically the whole world is considered as a complex regional coalition, union or federation. By integrating between each other these countries protect their corporative interests. Central Asian sub-region has all prerequisites and possibilities of becoming the new zone for the world development. However, during the years of sovereignty and independence the integration processes even aggravated. Integration processes in the framework of EAEC region are also not effective. All these do not allow rendering assistance and support to the neighboring country Afghanistan. The situation in this country, especially in the sphere of economy constitutes a threat not only to the Central Asian countries, but also for USA, Russia, China and the whole world. The ways of solving Afghan problems lie in the sphere of economy. The author considers possibilities and ways of achieving peace and stability in this country.

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-107
Author(s):  
Jovid Ikromov

In this article, the place of Central Asia, particularly of Tajikistan, in the Eurasian continent has been examined. The slow and confident transfer of engine of the world economy from the West to the East and South increasing the role of the countries located between them. Located between Europe, Russia and South Asia, five Central Asian countries are interested in the development and participation in broader transcontinental trade and transit corridors connecting in all directions. Tajikistan has a unique opportunity to become a hub of trade and transit as it is located at the crossroads of growing ties between South and Central Asia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 060-071
Author(s):  
Sergey Zhiltsov

In 2020, Central Asian countries faced new challenges that are bound to have a huge impact on the development of the region. The coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic has posed the region’s countries with the need to find mechanisms for adapting the economy and social sphere to the new reality. Despite the difficulties, regional states were able to respond quickly enough to the pandemic and tried to minimize the economic and social consequences. Application of quarantine measures and various restrictions, i.e., border closures and the termination of transport links have yielded positive results. These measures have reduced the incidence of sickness and mortality in all countries. At the same time, they encountered a decline in key macroeconomic indicators. Inflation rate, tumbling GDP and rising unemployment were observed in all Central Asian states. The pandemic has negatively impacted bilateral and multilateral relations of the Central Asian countries. The level of trade and economic relations was lowered, the volume of transported goods decreased. The countries of Central Asia were forced to structure their foreign policy in a new way, which factors in the complicated economic situation in each of the states. Specifically, one of the new trends is the active use of multilateral and bilateral mechanisms of interaction with nonregional states. Despite the steps taken, the countries of the region managed to stabilize the economic situation for a short time. By the fall of 2020, the epidemiological situation remained problematic in the countries of Central Asia. This forced them to develop new measures to support specific sectors of the economy and preserve social and economic stability. The countries did not rule out the introduction of new restrictions and the development of additional economic support measures for the essential sectors of the economy. The slowdown in economic growth in 2020 and the lack of prerequisites for the improvement of the situation do not allow us to expect changes in the region in 2021. The Central Asian states may face a further drop in production volumes, increased unemployment, decreased domestic demand, and inflation. Economic problems in each of the Central Asian countries will negatively affect the geopolitical situation and serve as an obstacle for multilateral interaction of the Central Asian states. Finally, there is still no clear understanding of the impact of the coronavirus on the economies of Central Asia. There are also no calculations that would show how effective the measures taken in the fight against COVID-19 were, and most importantly, it is unclear what resources may be required if the epidemic continues.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-32
Author(s):  
Alberto Frigerio

Acknowledging the value and importance of culture at local, national and global levels, the international community has progressively developed a series of conventions for the protection, preservation and enhancement of cultural heritage. Each of these conventions provides a unique set of binding principles and practices that member-states must follow in order to strengthen the protection of the heritage at stake. Still, while some of these laws have been enthusiastically embraced by Central Asian countries, others have been mostly ignored or avoided. This article aims to briefly examine three issues. First, the current rate of ratification of these conventions in the Central Asian region. Second, the main reasons why some of these legal documents have not received a spread endorsement in Central Asia. Third, a tentative interpretation of Central Asian states’ intentions over the next years.


Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 3012
Author(s):  
Zhilu Sun ◽  
Defeng Zhang

The problem of food insecurity has become increasingly critical across the world since 2015, which threatens the lives and livelihoods of people around the world and has historically been a challenge confined primarily to developing countries, to which the countries of Central Asia, as typical transition countries, cannot be immune either. Under this context, many countries including Central Asian countries have recognized the importance of trade openness to ensure adequate levels of food security and are increasingly reliant on international trade for food security. Using the 2001–2018 panel data of Central Asian countries, based on food security’s four pillars (including availability, access, stability, and utilization), this study empirically estimates the impact of trade openness and other factors on food security and traces a U-shaped (or inverted U-shaped) relationship between trade openness and food security by adopting a panel data fixed effect model as the baseline model, and then conducts the robustness test by using the least-squares (LS) procedure for the pooled data and a dynamic panel data (DPD) analysis with the generalized method of moments (GMM) approach, simultaneously. The results show that: (1) a U-shaped relationship between trade openness and the four pillars of food security was found, which means that beyond a certain threshold of trade openness, food security status tends to improve in Central Asian countries; (2) gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, GDP growth, and agricultural productivity have contributed to the improvement of food security. Employment in agriculture, arable land, freshwater withdrawals in agriculture, population growth, natural disasters, and inflation rate have negative impacts on food security; and (3) this study confirms that trade policy reforms can finally be conducive to improving food security in Central Asian countries. However, considering the effects of other factors, potential negative effects of trade openness, and vulnerability of global food trade network, ensuring reasonable levels of food self-sufficiency is still very important for Central Asian countries to achieve food security. Our research findings can provide scientific support for sustainable food system strategies in Central Asian countries.


Author(s):  
Robert Franciscus Janz ◽  
Askar Kutanov

National Research and Education Network organizations (NRENs) provide advanced information and communication technology (ICT) services for the academic community of their country. Their focus is often on providing affordable high speed bandwidth amongst their members and to other research networks, but NRENs also provide other advanced services such as electronic repositories, educational environments and supercomputing facilities. Higher Education and Research institutions have to play an active role in the transformation to the “Knowledge Society”. A recent (2010) report of the International Telecommunication Union has identified NRENs as important vehicles in reaching the goals of the World Summit of the Information Society. It is also demonstrated that the Central Asian countries score very low in the Networked Readiness Indices of the World Economic Forum, including areas where strong NRENs could improve the status quo. NRENs therefore have a role that is also important for the nation itself and therefore claims for government support are legitimate. About 62% of the countries of the world already have an NREN and there are four characteristics that are common to these NRENs. In nearly all of the cases the NREN is a not-for-profit organization that not only serves the academic community, but is also owned by the same community. Four out of five Central Asian countries have an active NREN and these NRENs all participate in the EC funded CAREN project that aims to set up a sustainable regional network for the academic communities in the participating countries. Today, the Central Asian Research and Education Network (CAREN) is upgrading the ancient Silk Road to a 21st-century high-speed internet highway for research and educational institutions through the region. Operational since July 2010, CAREN currently interconnects scientists and students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 029-038
Author(s):  
Farrukh Usmonov ◽  
Fumiaki Inagaki

The states of the Central Asian region obtained their independence in 1991 and have been undergoing a turbulent transition process, such as civil war, cross-border conflicts, revolution and socio-political reforms. Japan has been furthering its cooperation with the Central Asian countries since the day diplomatic relations were established. Despite only a 25-year history of cooperation, Japan has developed numerous and diverse patterns of involvement in the Central Asian region. There is a positive attitude towards Japan and Japanese people among the population of Central Asian countries. This work explores the features of Japanese soft power policy and its development in Central Asia. The core of the multilateral collaboration format in Japanese Central Asian Policy is “Central Asia + Japan,” which aims to promote inter-regional and intra-regional cooperation among the Central Asian states.


Author(s):  
А.М. Nysanbayeva ◽  
◽  
G.Zh. Syzdykova ◽  

Water issues occupy a special place in the system of environmental security: water resources deficit, pollution, provision of drinking water to the population, use of transboundary rivers. The issue of distribution and use of transboundary rivers, which are the main source of drinking water for the population of the Central Asian region, has not yet been resolved. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the population of our planet is 1 billion. Growth to 6 billion, respectively, has reduced the amount of water per capita by 6 times, and currently 80 countries of the world lack water resources. This situation is further aggravated by the transboundary nature of rivers. 40% of the world's population lives on the territory of 300 river massifs that have a cross-border status. For the countries of Central Asia, there is currently a problem of water scarcity. If this problem is not solved together, the problem may become worse. If each state does seek to consider and resolve this issue from an egoistic point of view,the situation becomes worse.


Author(s):  
Richard Pomfret

This chapter analyzes alternative strategies—multilateral and regional—pursued by the Central Asian countries to integrate into a wider economic circle, emphasizing the shift from being part of the highly integrated Soviet economy to regional disintegration in the 1990s and early 2000s and then, after 2006, steps towards greater cooperation and integration. In the 1990s and 2000s, despite the actual multilateralism, only the Kyrgyz Republic joined the World Trade Organization. At the same time, a number of regional agreements were signed, both among the Central Asian countries and between Central Asian countries and their neighbors, although none had much influence, until the Eurasian Economic Union was constructed after 2009. Meanwhile, high costs of international trade in Central Asia are a symptom and a cause of regional disintegration.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 022-028
Author(s):  
Julia Harlamova

The article discusses China’s geo-economic presence in the Central Asian region and analyzes the history and causes of this phenomenon in the form of a detailed discussion of the interaction between China and the Central Asian countries in the energy and transportation spheres. It notes the special role of Kazakhstan in the realization of Belt and Road Initiative and pays particular attention to certain aspects of China’s crediting and investment policy.


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