Turkey 2008- Central Asia: Everybody’s Ally?

www.weforum.org 31.10.2008 Central Asia Everybody's Ally? On a number of economic and security fronts, many Central Asian countries are making concerted efforts to diversify relations with the Middle East, Asia and Europe. 1) What are the opportunities and limitations of this strategy? 2) How can the business community capitalize on this shift in priorities? 3) Is there an ASEAN-like model for Central Asian countries that would allow it to speak with a stronger collective voice? Ali Babacan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chief Negotiator of Turkey Pierre Morel, EU Special Representative for Central Asia, Council of the European Union, Brussels Rajat M. Nag, Managing Director-General, Asian Development Bank, Manila Yerbol Orynbayev, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan S. Frederick Starr, Chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, Johns Hopkins University, USA Chaired by Nik Gowing, Main Presenter, BBC World News, United Kingdom