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CICA

CICA’s Next Chapter in Asian Cooperation

At the October 15 summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Baku, Kazakhstan proposed a mechanism for preventive diplomacy to address disputes before they escalate. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the mechanism would give each member state a role in decision-making and help translate political commitments into coordinated action. If adopted, the proposal could increase Astana’s influence among Asia’s larger powers by making its founding initiative more enduring. Influence Through an Asian Agenda Kazakhstan already coordinates CICA’s military-political dimension, working with Türkiye on military exchanges, training-center visits, and seminars that include mediation. Kazakhstan could draw on these exchanges when seeking members’ agreement on a mandate for preventive diplomacy. They provide experience of organizing cooperation in a politically sensitive field, although a standing role in addressing emerging disputes would require a separate political agreement defining what members authorize the mechanism to do. The Think Tank Forum offers another example of Kazakhstan’s influence over CICA’s institutional development. China initiated the Forum in 2014; its transformation into a permanent CICA advisory body followed in October 2021, when member states acted on Tokayev’s initiative. Azerbaijan hosted the first meeting outside China in September 2025, at which the handover to the Indian Council of World Affairs was announced; the latter now chairs the Forum for 2026–2027. Kazakhstan thus helped turn a Chinese initiative into a permanent CICA advisory body that Azerbaijani and Indian institutions subsequently helped sustain. China also contributes funding and seconded personnel to the Secretariat; Kazakhstan can build influence by securing agreement on standing arrangements through which other members pursue their priorities. At the Baku summit, Tokayev also proposed establishing a CICA Water Partnership to promote joint research, technology exchange, and water-saving measures. He suggested that Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan could jointly advance a proposal for an International Water Organization under the United Nations. These proposals could give Kazakhstan a role in shaping cooperation on water security within CICA and, through a joint regional initiative, at the UN. Kazakhstan's Foundational Role in CICA's Development Kazakhstan conceived CICA in 1992 and has led its institutional development, including the effort to transform it into a full-fledged international organization. The initiative has a constituency extending well beyond Central Asia. Fifteen states adopted CICA’s first founding declaration in 1999. With Laos’s accession at Baku, CICA now has 29 members, ranging from China, India, Pakistan, and Russia to Iran, Israel, and South Korea. The 2022 Astana summit launched CICA’s transformation into a full-fledged international organization. The Road Map endorsed by member states in 2023 specified reforms through which to pursue that transformation. The reforms cover the Charter, implementation of confidence-building measures, procedural rules, and the Secretariat’s organization. These changes affect CICA’s capacity to carry agreements forward between high-level meetings. Within CICA, the consensus rule makes collective agreement a condition both of institutional change and of policy coordination. Kazakhstan thus has an interest in the procedures through which future cooperation will be organized. Cambodia’s pre-summit ratification of the convention on the Secretariat’s...

CAMCA

Opinion: The 2026 CAMCA Regional Forum Concludes – What’s Next?

The 2026 CAMCA Regional Forum has concluded in Baku after two full days of conversation on a range of topics shaping the future of the region. The closing ceremony included an official announcement that next year’s Forum will take place in Uzbekistan in June of 2027. The question now is: in the lead-up to next year’s convening, how do we build on the connections, ideas and momentum built in Baku to truly advance regional cooperation in the months ahead? How do we turn conversation into action? The mechanism and catalyst for this will be the CAMCA Network – the dynamic collection of more than 300 talented leaders spread throughout the entire region and beyond – united by a common conviction that a successful future of the CAMCA region lies in intraregional cooperation and collaboration. Through existing initiatives, such as CAMCA Talking magazine, and forthcoming projects – CAMCA TV and the CAMCA Conversations podcast – the network will utilize these innovative platforms to raise awareness around the important developments taking place within the CAMCA region, and, most importantly, to highlight where regional cooperation is well underway, where more is needed, and how leaders across sectors can do their part to drive tangible collaboration to the next level. While the CAMCA Network can serve as an important stimulus of this effort, it is critical that we continue to expand the CAMCA community across all sectors and build partnerships with individuals, organizations and companies that share our vision for CAMCA’s connected, collaborative and prosperous future. This is the charge we take from Baku and will be an integral part of CAMCA’s next chapter. From his time in public service and at the outset of the Rumsfeld Foundation’s work with rising leaders from the region, Secretary Rumsfeld believed in the incredible potential of the CAMCA region, predicated on the ten countries themselves recognizing the benefit of their enhanced cooperation. 20 years ago, there were few who shared his vision or his optimism. Today, on the heels of the 12th annual CAMCA Forum, this vision has come to life, and global interest and momentum are in CAMCA’s favor. As we look towards the 2027 CAMCA convening in Uzbekistan, we are eager to invite partners from within the region and across the globe to join us in building CAMCA’s next chapter. The groundwork has been laid, and a dedicated and energetic network of regional trailblazers now exists – let’s put it to work and bring CAMCA to a new level. The CAMCA Regional Forum is an annual, non-partisan event dedicated to promoting dialogue, cooperation, and sustainable economic growth across Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caucasus, and Afghanistan. Established as a premier platform for high-level engagement, the Forum convenes diverse stakeholders from government, business, academia, civil society, and beyond. The Forum is co-organized by the Rumsfeld Foundation, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, and the CAMCA Network. Learn more at www.camcaforum.org. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy...

CAMCA

Opinion: Building Bridges, Backing the Future: Why Entrepreneurs Must Connect Across Borders

In the age of AI, capital and code travel fast. Trust does not. That is why the most valuable infrastructure our region can build right now is human: entrepreneurs who know each other across borders. This week in Baku, at the CAMCA Forum 2026, two moments stayed with me. The first was a conversation on stage with investor Lucy Chow about what it means to back the future when artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of business. The second happened a day earlier, quietly, at a signing table. The CAMCA network signed a Memorandum of Understanding with YEGAP, the Young Entrepreneurs Group of Asia Pacific. Mr. Hiromi Aoki travelled from Japan to be with us. The purpose is simple to state and hard to do: build a lasting bridge between the founders of Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caucasus and Afghanistan and their peers across Asia-Pacific. Those two moments are connected. The more powerful technology becomes, the more the advantage shifts to people who are connected to other people. What "backing the future" means now I opened our session by asking Lucy what "backing the future" means to her. We spent the next hour testing that phrase against the realities of AI: what is truly different about this wave, where the signal ends and the hype begins, and where entrepreneurs still have room when so much capital flows to a handful of AI giants. The answer that emerged was reassuring. AI changes the tools, the speed and the cost of building a company. It does not change what makes a company worth backing: a visionary founder, a real problem, a great solution, a customer who will pay to solve it, and a team that can execute and adapt. What AI does change is the bar. When anyone can build a prototype in a weekend, a prototype is no longer proof. The proof is distribution, domain knowledge and trust with customers. Those are exactly the things the world's largest AI labs cannot buy in Almaty, Tashkent, Ulaanbaatar or Baku. That is where the space for our entrepreneurs lies. Not in competing to build the biggest foundation models, but in applying AI to the industries we know better than anyone: agriculture and herding, logistics along new trade corridors, remittances and financial inclusion, energy, health, education and natural resources. The main focus should be to really focus on our uniqueness and take that to the world and showcase our local identity. Investors back people, and people are shaped by their networks When technology moves this fast, how do you judge a founder? The qualities we discussed are not new: resilience, curiosity, honesty about what is not working, and the speed to learn and change course. What is new is how quickly those qualities are tested. A founder today may need to rebuild a product three times in the time it once took to build it once. One quality matters more than it used to: the ability to learn from others. No founder can track...

CAMCA

Opinion: CAMCA: From Regional Connectivity to Cross-Border Innovation

What would it take for a fintech company that succeeds in one CAMCA country to enter another without starting from zero? That question guided a roundtable on the next digital Silk Road at the CAMCA Regional Forum in Baku. The discussion brought together leaders in financial services, investment, and technology from a region spanning Central Asia, the Caucasus, Mongolia, and Afghanistan. As moderator, I wanted to move beyond the broad ambition of regional connectivity and examine what companies need to operate across borders: working payment systems, partnerships, regulatory clarity, and a path to their first customer in a new market. The panel featured Tughra Musayeva, Head of Innovations at PASHA Financial Holding; Jenny Jenish kyzy, Product Owner at MBank Junior and a CAMCA Network member from Kyrgyzstan; Muna Shukurova, Managing Director of Alif in Uzbekistan and a CAMCA Network member from Tajikistan; and Jonathan Low, Founder and Group CEO of Ampyre Group and Biptap. A central theme was financial infrastructure. The speakers explored the potential for pilots using existing platforms to connect CAMCA markets, including cross-border payments, business settlements, digital wallets, and new settlement technologies. Such pilots would require regulators and private companies to work together on defined problems and learn from results. Mr. Low argued that the region has an opportunity to make deliberate choices about the systems it wants to build: “Most regions overregulate before they even know what they're building. CAMCA has an advantage here, it can watch Europe's and ASEAN’s fintech buildout and skip the mistakes instead of repeating them and learn what works. But that only works if you decide what you want first. Regulation should follow the vision, not replace it. And the tool that actually unifies a region this spread out is banking orchestration, new technology stitching fragmented markets into one functioning system.” Expansion also raises a practical question for companies already active in more than one market: which capabilities can travel, and which parts of a product must change? Requirements for licensing, identity checks, anti-money-laundering controls, infrastructure, and consumer behavior differ across countries. Ms Shukurova drew on Alif’s experience of entering other CAMCA markets: “Regional expansion is not a copy-paste exercise. You can replicate technology, risk expertise and operating capabilities, but the product still has to be built around local regulation, infrastructure and customer behavior. The core can travel; the market fit has to be local.” The panel then turned to the role of established financial groups. For a startup, a successful pilot can demonstrate that a solution works. It becomes more valuable when that result helps the company find a partner or customer in its next market. Corporate networks and regional investors can help make that step less costly. Ms Musayeva described the gap between proving a product and expanding it: “In our region, a startup does not scale simply because its technology is scalable. It scales when the ecosystem reduces the cost of entering the next market. Today, a founder who has proven a solution in Tashkent still arrives in...

CAMCA

Opinion: Central Asia’s Wider Future: The CAMCA Network Brings Regional Cooperation to Baku

Central Asia is helping shape a wider regional agenda, one that connects trade and investment with technology, education, and security. In Baku, the CAMCA Regional Forum is bringing together the people who can carry that agenda forward, with the CAMCA Network helping turn shared interests into opportunities for cooperation. Taking place on October 1–2 at the Fairmont Baku Flame Towers, the 2026 CAMCA Regional Forum convenes policymakers, business leaders, investors, educators, researchers, and entrepreneurs under the theme “The World and CAMCA: A Region at the Crossroads.” Its central question is how regional cooperation can expand economic opportunities and strengthen the capacity of countries and communities to shape their future. The CAMCA Network helps shape this conversation. As a co-founder and co-organizer of the forum, it connects professionals across Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caucasus, and Afghanistan. Its members contribute expertise, lead discussions, and bring the experience of working in the region into the program. They also give the forum continuity: relationships strengthened in Baku can support collaboration long after the gathering concludes. For Central Asia, that wider community matters. The five countries have distinct economic structures, resources, and international relationships. Cooperation must reflect those differences while identifying where shared effort can expand their choices. Connections with the Caucasus, Mongolia, and Afghanistan offer different opportunities and challenges, each deserving a place in the regional conversation. The CAMCA Regional Forum’s discussions of global shifts through 2030 and greater Central Asia–Caucasus convergence address this strategic landscape. “From C5 to a Wider Framework” asks how a broader geography of cooperation might serve the region’s interests. The underlying issue is the ability of countries to shape their own decisions: how working with neighbors can strengthen their options in a changing international environment. Economic connectivity provides a concrete test. Routes across the Caspian and through the Caucasus can help Central Asian countries reach additional markets and partners. Their value depends on dependable transport, workable procedures, and institutions able to coordinate across borders. Businesses need enough certainty to invest, plan, and build lasting commercial relationships. Today’s discussion on connecting CAMCA to the world brings these questions together. For Central Asia, the opportunity extends beyond moving goods through the region. Better connections can support production, logistics, services, and investment within it. The strategic objective is to create more value locally and give regional enterprises a stronger place in wider markets. The forum’s paired sessions on public policy and the private sector approach that objective from complementary directions. Governments influence the conditions under which companies operate. Businesses decide where to commit capital, develop products, and employ people. Bringing these perspectives together helps clarify which barriers require public action and where commercial initiative can move cooperation forward. Technology adds another dimension. The discussion of artificial intelligence asks where CAMCA fits in a rapidly changing global economy. The Digital Silk Road roundtable connects that question with financial services and innovation. For entrepreneurs in Central Asia, digital connections can open access to customers, payments, financing, and partners across borders. The investment and entrepreneurship...

Organization of Turkic States

Meeting of the Organization of Turkic States Held in Baku

On April 2, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with participants of a meeting of the heads of government of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in Baku, outlining key areas of cooperation. Among those attending were Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Adylbek Kasymaliev, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Nokerguly Atagulyev, Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Unal Ustel, and OTS Secretary General Kubanychbek Omuraliev. Opening the meeting, Aliyev stressed the importance of dialogue. “This meeting of the heads of government of the Organization of Turkic States is being held in Baku. I warmly welcome you all,” he said. According to Aliyev, such meetings allow not only for the discussion of economic issues but also for reaffirming unity among member states. He noted that cooperation within the organization remains a priority of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy. He also reiterated a key message that ran throughout his speech: “We have repeatedly stated from various platforms that the Turkic world is our family; we have no other family,” Aliyev said. Special attention was devoted to economic cooperation. According to the president, trade between member states is growing, and investment volumes are increasing. He noted that Azerbaijan has invested more than $20 billion in the economies of OTS member states. Most of this has been directed to Turkey, though investment activity is expanding elsewhere. In particular, joint funds have been established with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan to support project implementation. Aliyev also thanked partners for their participation in the reconstruction of Karabakh. Facilities built with the support of OTS countries are already operational in the region, including the Mirza Ulugbek School, the Kurmangazy Children’s Creative Center, and the Manas School. In addition, a garment factory has been opened in Khankendi with the participation of Uzbekistan. He also highlighted mutual support among member states. Following the earthquake in Turkey, Azerbaijan financed the construction of the “Azerbaijani Quarter” in Kahramanmaraş, valued at $100 million. Transport and logistics projects were another key topic. According to the president, infrastructure development remains a top priority. These include the Middle Corridor, the Trans-Caspian route, and the Zangezur Corridor, all of which are gaining importance in the current geopolitical environment. Aliyev said that infrastructure within Azerbaijan is largely complete. Railways, the Baku port, highways, and airports are operational. Construction of the Zangezur Corridor is also progressing, with the highway nearly 90% complete and the railway approximately 70% complete. He also noted the construction of the Kars-Nakhchivan railway line in Turkey, which is expected to enable a new international route with an initial capacity of about 15 million tons of cargo. In conclusion, Aliyev said these projects are aimed not only at serving regional interests but also at expanding international transport connectivity. He expressed confidence that the meeting would contribute to the further development of the OTS and strengthen cooperation among member states.