DUSHANBE, August 1, 2012, Asia-Plus — Two public lectures on trends in foreign trade of Central Asia’s nations and Tajikistan’s transport transit corridors were given by researchers from the University of Central Asia (UCA) at the Ismaili Center Dushanbe on August 1.
Roman Mogilevskii, Senior Research Fellow/Project Coordinator, UCA’s Institute for Public Policy and Administration, delivered the lecture on trends and patterns in foreign trade of Central Asia’s countries.
Central Asia possesses many valuable resources and faces many challenges to its development. The region is landlocked and remote from most global economic centers, it has a relatively small population and market size, under-developed infrastructure, and in some areas suffers from political instability and insecurity; all of which create risks for human development. The relationship between the multiple forces driving development and risks is dynamic. Understanding these dynamics requires consistent monitoring and careful evidence-based analysis of key development factors in the region.
One of the most important factors of economic development is foreign trade, and Central Asia has economies heavily dependent on trade, he noted.
The presentation discussed recent trends and patterns in the total and intra-regional trade of Central Asian countries, covers both formal and informal trade flows, and assessed their importance and policy implications.
Shahboz Asadov, a Lead Researcher of the UCA’s Institute of Public Policy and Administration based in Dushanbe, delivered the lecture entitled “Tajikistan’s Transport Transit Corridors and Their Potential for Developing Regional Trade.”
Given the Central Asian states’ land-locked geographical position, integration into the global trade system, liberalization of external trade policy and regional cooperation in transportation and transit are closely interlinked. Improving the transit infrastructure would contribute to solving many problems not only in Tajikistan but also in other Central Asian countries, which face similar issues. These countries have limited domestic markets with relatively small populations, have no access to ports and, are relatively remote from major markets. They face significant economic discord among their trading partners.
Tajikistan, which faces significant challenges and tough competition from neighboring transit corridors, puts efforts to find ways to improve its transport corridors and multi-modal logistics services that would contribute significantly to enhancing its regional competitiveness, and regional integration processes in Central Asia. The presentation reviewed recent developments and arrangements of existing automobile transport corridors of Tajikistan, assessed the corridors’ current performances and corresponding policy recommendations and implications for further development.
The University of Central Asia (UCA) was founded in 2000. The Presidents of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, and His Highness the Aga Khan signed the International Treaty and Charter establishing this secular and private University; ratified by the respective parliaments, and registered with the United Nations. The Presidents are the Patrons of UCA and His Highness is the Chancellor.
