It is a question being asked with increasing urgency by intelligence services, multinational companies and most citizens of Kazakhstan: where is Nursultan Nazarbayev? Kazakhstan’s leader from 1991 until 2019, Nazarbayev has long been the arbiter of all business and political decisions in the central Asian nation, and the purveyor of an all-encompassing personality cult.
The legal status of the Caspian Sea has remained unresolved for nearly 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But now, the leaders of the five countries bordering the world’s biggest enclosed body of water have finally made significant headway after agreeing — at least, in principle — on how to […]
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling for closer cooperation between the two countries. Faced with profound and complex changes of the international situation, China and India, as the world’s two largest developing countries, should pay more attention to cooperation and go ahead with each other as partners, so as to instil […]
Although Central Asia holds many strategic advantages for India, not much has been done to take this forward. But recent developments in our neighbourhood could serve as the much-needed wake up call to New Delhi to pursue its regional policy plans. Read Here – The Wire
India’s SCO membership could now play a bigger role in ensuring greater energy cooperation between energy producers and consumers by linking Central Asia and South Asia, wherein Iran can be instrumental in facilitating the SCO Energy Club by becoming a major energy trading hub through the opening up of its Chabahar port. Read Here – […]
Japan’s expanded diplomatic overtures can be explained in two main ways. First, they could be seen as a means of balancing against China. If true, this would effectively be a form of unwitting indirect assistance to Russia, whose own traditional hegemony in Eurasia is being seriously challenged by China’s growing trade ties and economic presence […]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Central Asian Republics has evoked much interest in India. Civilisational links and cultural commonalities apart, the prospect of a seat for India at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation high table does warrants excitement. After all, being at the high table is protection against ending up on the menu. Jokes apart, what […]
Twenty-five years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Central Asia is a region of relative stability. There are, of course, security, economic, and social challenges, which give local leaders sleepless nights; however, the narrative shift – from a troublesome region to an area of opportunity – is producing some surprising results. Read Here – […]
Welcome to Uzbekistan, a country that in recent months has been home to a drama that could have come straight from Shakespeare’s pen. Playing the leading roles are: a dictator, who has had his country under his iron grip for a quarter-century; his glamorous daughter, who he had been grooming as his successor; and his […]
China’s presence and influence in Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – have been increasing. The westward strategy articulated by Chinese President Xi Jinping in his “New Silk Road economic belt” highlights Central Asia’s importance for Chinese economy and development. Central Asia is resource rich, and, because of its proximity to China […]
looking beyond borders 