This was left in comments a while back and I neglected to mention it, but it certainly seems important to President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan has proposed the creation of a Central Asian Union modeled after the EU.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan has proposed the forming of a “Central Asian Union”. “The Treaty of eternal friendship between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan can serve as a solid foundation for such union,” Nazarbayev said during his annual appeal at the joint session of both houses of Kazakhstan’s parliament.
Other countries of the region (Tajikistan and Turkmenistan) can join the new union. Mr Nazarbayev stressed: “In the region, we share economic interest, cultural heritage, language, religion, and environmental challenges, and face common external threats.”
“The founding fathers of the European Union could only wish they had so much in common,” he emphasized. “We should direct our efforts towards a closer economic integration, a common market and a single currency,” he noted. “The global economy demands larger markets,” Nazarbayev added.
If I wasn’t feeling borderline burned out, I’d really elaborate on this thought, but it’s important that Nazarbayev only mentioned economics. I would hazard a guess that the report doesn’t leave out talk of open borders but that Nazarbayev consciously did not mention anything of the sort. Kazakhstan is proposing a union in which it would be the natural leader. That’s not to say that the rest of the region wouldn’t benefit from lowered trade barriers, but the rest of the countries invited to join–especially Uzbekistan–may need to get over themselves.
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Nathan Hamm – author of 2040 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan founded Registan.net in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural factors shape risks and opportunities. Follow him on Twitter or drop him a line.
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Just add another acronym to the alphabet soup of regional initiatives.
Do you think this one will have an effect? I remember Rashid talking in “Jihad”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0142002607/002-1824640-8661654 saying over and over again: “If only they could work together! Why don’t they work together!”
I don’t think it will amount to anything unless Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan start to feel pinched by Russia, China, and the US. I don’t think either Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan trust each other too much and the negotiations would get hopelessly bogged down as the two countries tried to rig things in their favor.
This story suggests that it might be about increasing Kazakhstan’s strength in regards to Russia.
European Union as it is nowadays, begun at least 50 years ago. And it is good just to think about union of Central Asia today. Maybe after 50 years some thing will be better in our countries too.
i believe kazakhstan , uzbekistan, tukmenistan, tajikistan, kirgzstan, afghanistan and pakistan can achieve such goal and benefits alot from it.