Regional Cooperation and Development in Central Asia
March, 2-3, 2009
EUCAM, in cooperation with Asian Development Bank, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Wolfensohn Centre for Development (Brookings Institution), organised a conference on Regional Cooperation and Development in Central Asia. The event was hosted by CEPS on March 2-3, 2009. The gathering was marked by a broad range of perspectives on the constellation of interests, capacities and motivations regarding a more integrated Central Asia. Ambassador Pierre Morel, EU Special Representative for Central Asia, and Jan Marinus Wiersma (MEP) weighed the relative merits of tuned reform sponsorship versus pragmatism, which stems from Europe’s need to diversify its gas supplies.
The Ambassadors of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan called on the EU to give greater consideration to the countries that do not have oil and gas reserves yet advocate regional cooperation. The CAREC experience and strategic plans as regards facilitation of trade, investments and business development in Central Asia was complemented by presentations on small-scale cross-border trade projects of the World Bank and achievements and shortcomings in the EU border control reform programmes (BOMCA/CADAP). Water resource issues that largely define the relationships between the Central Asian states were discussed from various angles by Central Asian and international experts and representatives of major donor agencies (Aga Khan Development Network and UNDP).
Recommendations on the improvement of the EU regional cooperation promotion strategy presented by Victor Andres-Maldonado, who heads the Central Asian Unit in the European Commission concerned a greater focus on the sub-state and supra-state dimensions, de-bureaucratisation of the EU assistance to the civil society in Central Asia and comprehensive stakeholder analysis with the aim to craft tailored strategies.
