The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings Institution, in partnership with the Asian Development Bank and the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program (CAREC) held an international conference on "Integrating Central Asia into the World Economy: The Role of Energy and Transport Infrastructure."
With its strategic location as a land-bridge between the largest Eurasian economies – China, the European Union, India, Japan and Russia – and with its large natural and human resources, Central Asia represents a key link in supporting the process of Eurasian economic integration. At the same time, land-locked Central Asia is critically dependent on the development of effective energy and infrastructure links that can connect it with the rest of the world, so that it can get its natural resources to world markets, attract investment and improve its capacity to compete.
At the conference senior officials and private sector representatives from Central Asia and neighboring countries discussed the ambitious plans for developing infrastructure within the region and beyond, as well as the challenges in realizing these goals. The event featured both on-the-record plenary sessions and off-the record break-out discussions.
Full text transcripts, the conference report and presentations are available on the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Web site.
The participants listed below are from the public plenary session.