The event brought together experts and researchers from leading U.S. think tanks and academic institutions specializing in Central Asia.
Participants discussed the expansion of Central Asian countries’ partnerships with key external actors, the development of transport connectivity, energy security, critical minerals, and the strengthening of regional cooperation.
Javlon Vakhabov noted that Central Asia is increasingly being viewed not through the lens of geographic limitations, but as a region seeking to turn its position between Russia, China, Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East into a source of strategic optionality.
According to him, the region’s key task is to diversify economic ties, transport corridors, energy routes, and international partnerships.”
It was noted that this transformation already has a practical dimension. Central Asia’s population now exceeds 80 million people, intraregional trade has doubled since 2017 to around $11 billion, while the region’s combined GDP has grown 2.5 times to approximately $520 billion. Javlon Vakhabov stressed that these figures reflect the region’s growing economic agency and its aspiration to pursue a more coordinated regional agenda.
For his part, Ilan Berman, Senior Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council, emphasized that these trends create an opportunity for the United States to move from political visibility to practical results within the C5+1 framework. Promising areas of cooperation identified during the discussion included transport and logistics, energy, nuclear safety, critical minerals, digital infrastructure, agriculture, education, and human capital development.
