Central Asia in the global economy

The remarkable transformation of Central Asian economies has been capturing the attention of academics and policymakers around the world for the past 30 years. Having inherited dilapidated extractive Soviet infrastructure and centralised economic planning, the republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan were challenged to re-orient and liberalise their commodity-based economies for the 21st century. Carefully leveraging their unique geography and rich resource endowments, once isolated and impoverished, the countries of Central Asia are evolving to play a key role as a bridge between the East and the West in the framework of …