Experts share insights into navigating challenges facing Central Asia and the world

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The share of China in the global economy reached 18 percent in 2021," said Kumar, noting that this is a sign of a new economic power: China.

Today, China capitalizes more on internal resources, focusing on robotics, artificial intelligence, and computer technologies. This is happening within China itself, driven by geopolitical considerations like competition between China and the United States," he said.

There is a transition in the world from a world that many people thought was about economic opportunity and economic integration toward a world that increasingly is about security, fragmentation, and conflict among countries. Number one, that has big implications for Kazakhstan, which has big ambitions for economic development," said the expert.

Second example, there’s a lot of turbulence between the United States and China. And that meant that China is looking to improve its relationships with countries worldwide, including in Central Asia. But for China, countries like Kazakhstan have mainly been transit countries; there is a lot of talk about high-speed rail and infrastructure projects. But for Kazakhstan’s own development, it’s important to extract more of the value added and have China leave investment in Kazakhstan that creates more jobs and opportunities for people in Kazakhstan," he said.

Kazakhstan will have difficult choices to make because if, for example, you buy a Western technology or a Chinese technology, those countries export their indigenous standards, and your economy will run off that standard. Navigating that turbulence is going to be very difficult as well. But I think my central message is out of the turbulence, if you get your economic and investment choices right, there can be considerable opportunities notwithstanding the risks," said Feigenbaum.

What happened over those 20 years is a significant expansion of land-based routes between Europe and China and Central Asia benefitting greatly from this interconnectedness," said Linn.

I think the most important change that has brought the profile of Central Asia into much greater focus has been the Russia-Ukraine conflict," he said.

Simultaneously, we have seen sanctions imposed on import of gas and oil from Russia. That increased the importance of fossil fuels in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. There has been much greater conversation about how these fossil fuels and energy can be transported to Europe from Central Asia that stopped receiving energy resources from Russia," said Sajjanhar.

Central Asia is now expected to suffer the most severe climate disaster because the expected temperature rise will be quite high in Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa. These are the regions where the impact of climate change will be the hardest, including Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan also faces a very serious risk of the danger of climate change. It is something Kazakhstan has to be prepared and ready for and should also make a contribution to reduce the impact of climate change," said the expert.

We have to accept that not only production is the issue but also consumption needs to be on the agenda as well," he said.

In fact, many of the examples of China, for example, the electric car industry, shows that investing in mitigation can propel new economic opportunity for growth and jobs," he said.