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


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