Academic Workshop: Connectivity in Central Asia
15 December 2016 4:00 pm CET
Venue
Austrian National Bank (OeNB), Otto-Wagner-Platz 3, 1090 Vienna
Description
The workshop analysed economic developments in Central Asia, with a particular focus on economic interlinkages between the countries while also assessing the geo-strategic position of Central Asia as a whole. It explored the current state of play, challenges and opportunities regarding the various dimensions of economic connectivity: trade, border controls and management, migration and labour flows, energy routes, transport links and environmental issues. A particular focus of the conference was on the role the OSCE can play within its mandate in the various domains.
The workshop was organised in cooperation with the Austrian, Swiss and German Ministries of Foreign Affairs.
Thursday 15.12.2016, 16.00-18.00
Welcome & Opening
H.E. Florian Raunig, Head of OSCE 2017 Chairmanship Taskforce, Austria
Christine Weil, Deputy Head of Mission to the OSCE, Germany
Jean-Luc Oesch, Deputy Head of Delegation to the OSCE, Switzerland
Keynote speeches
Alexander Gabuyev, Senior Associate and Chair Russia in the Asia-Pacific Program, Carnegie Moscow Center, Russian Federation
H.E. Peter Burian, EU Special Representative for Central Asia, European External Action Service (EEAS)
Round table: Assessing the Economic and Geo-strategic Position of the Region
H.E. Heidemaria Gürer, Head of Department Eastern Europe, Western Balkan, South Caucasus and Central Asia, Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, Austria
Alexander Gabuyev, Senior Associate and Chair Russia in the Asia-Pacific Program, Carnegie Moscow Center, Russian Federation
Alma Sultangaliyeva, Adviser to the Director, Institute of World Economic and Politics, Kazakhstan
Armands Pupols, Political Affairs Officer, UN Regional Center for Preventive
Diplomacy for Central Asia, Turkmenistan
Friday 16.12.2016, 9.00-17.45
Session 1: Barriers to Cross Border Economic Cooperation - What can be done?
Pal Dunay, Professor of NATO and European Security Issues, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies
Nazira Sultanova, Senior Expert Representative Office of the Ministry of Economy on WTO issues, Kyrgyzstan
Alma Sultangaliyeva, Adviser to the Director, Institute of World Economic and Politics, Kazakhstan
Session 2: Economic Integration Projects
Rafael Sattarov, International Department of the University of World Economy and Diplomacy, Uzbekistan
Nurbek Jenish, Deputy Governor, Central Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic
Sergey Chernyshev, Trade Section, Eurasian Economic Commission, Russian Federation
Session 3: Border and Customs Management in Central Asia – Lessons learned?
Hana Daoudi, Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Switzerland
Bettina Vogl-Lang, Director of Group Border Management and Trade Facilitation Programs for Central Asia, Austrian Ministry of Finance
Raitis Tiliks, Regional Manager, EU-Project Border Management in Central Asia (BOMCA), Kyrgyzstan
Alexander Eliseev, Head of Education, OSCE Border Management Staff College, Tajikistan
Session 4: Transport, Energy and Environmental cooperation
Keun-Wook Paik, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
Daniel Kroos, Senior Energy Security Officer, OSCE
Vassiliy V. Korolyov, General director TransAl, Ltd. and Honorary Professor of the Kazakh-German University, Kazakhstan
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Session 5: Mobility and Labour Migration
Yelena Sadovskaya, President, Center for Conflict Management, Kazakhstan and Expert of the Research Council on the CIS and Baltic States Migration Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation
Roman Mogilevsky, Associate Director and Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Public Policy and Administration, University of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Bakhrom Mirkasimov, Deputy Dean, Westminster University, Uzbekistan
Radim Zak, Programme Manager, International Centre for Migration Policy
Development (ICMPD), Austria
Concluding Remarks
Hannes Swoboda, wiiw President, former Member of European Parliament