In recent years, the five Central Asian states — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan — have increasingly expanded their bilateral and multilateral relationships beyond Russia, China, and Europe to economically engage with key partners in the Middle East. These burgeoning Central Asian ties with, in particular, the Arab Gulf countries, Turkey, and Iran encompass energy cooperation, transit corridors, trade agreements, and security issues — signifying not only a shift toward greater trans-regional economic inter-independence but also a desire by the landlocked countries around the Caspian basin to diversify their overall foreign policy choices. To discuss the latest geopolitical developments in the region as well as their strategic implications for the United States, the Middle East Institute will be hosting an expert panel of scholars from Central Asia and the US.
The panelists will discuss a wide range of critical policy questions, including: How are the various competing transportation corridor projects involving Central Asian, South Caucasus, and Middle Eastern states changing the geopolitics of the wider region? Is it possible for the US to hinder Iran’s economic cooperation with its neighbors around the Caspian, and should it even try? How do the growing trade links and joint ventures between Central Asia and the Middle East affect the regional goals of outside powers, including Russia, China, Europe, and the US? And what can the US and its Western allies do to encourage a closer alignment of these transformative regional shifts with transatlantic economic and security interests?
Speakers
Iulia-Sabina Joja
Director, Black Sea Program, Middle East Institute
Sanat Kushkumbayev
Visiting Scholar, Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University
Bruce Pannier
Central Asia Fellow, Eurasia Program, Foreign Policy Research Institute; Member, Advisory Board, Caspian Policy Center
Assel Tutumlu
Assistant Professor, Near East University
Alex Vatanka (Moderator)
Director, Iran Program, Middle East Institute
(Photo by FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP via Getty Images)