Economic Cooperation in the Wider Central Asia Region
This paper lays out the big issues that affect regional cooperation and development in the wider Central Asia region, and analyzes in greater detail areas where there appear to be good prospects for progress in the short run. The paper develops a f...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Publication |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC: World Bank
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2006/04/6743343/economic-cooperation-wider-central-asia-region http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6969 |
| Summary: | This paper lays out the big issues that
affect regional cooperation and development in the wider
Central Asia region, and analyzes in greater detail areas
where there appear to be good prospects for progress in the
short run. The paper develops a framework for approaching
regional cooperation in the wider Central Asia region, based
on identifying and analyzing critical linkages among
sectors, and explicitly recognizing political obstacles and
the corresponding need for political incentives to make
progress. Modest, "win-win" initiatives will help
build trust and momentum for tackling the more difficult
areas, but there may also be opportunities for "bold
strokes" to augment, and change the distribution of
benefits sufficiently to leverage more substantial progress.
The paper notes that progress in regional cooperation has
been limited to date, largely on account of political
obstacles related to geopolitical rivalries but also due to
an inability to agree over the distribution of the potential
benefits from cooperation between, and within countries. It
then provides a thematic overview of critical clusters of
issues including the nexus of: a) border security issues
with narcotics, trade facilitation, and people movements; b)
transport infrastructure and trade, and transport
facilitation; c) irrigation water issues with narcotics, and
people movements; and, d) electricity (hydropower), and
water issues. Practical short-run recommendations are put
forward that take political incentives into consideration. |
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