The Proposed ‘Central Asian EU’ Explained

0:00 On Sunday, OSBC President Shavatmir Zuyv proposed forming a new regional block called the Community of Central Asia made up of the five posts Soviet Central Asian republics, Kazakhstan, Asbbeckiststan Kyrgystan Tajjikstan and Tuck Menistan, plus Azabaijan, a South Caucus' nation across the Caspian Sea. As well as regular meetings, the community would also establish a rotating secretariat similar to the EU's rotating council presidency, a council of elders for cultural and humanitarian issues, and the appointment of special presidential envoys for coordination. So, in this video, we'll explain Muryv's new proposal, why it's been likened to a central Asian EU, and whether it could work. [Music]

0:50 Who is the most influential person in the world? Well, last year the TLDDR audience ranked Donald Trump as number one with these people all landing in the top 10. But do you agree? Click the link in the description to cast your vote for our 2026 ranking. First, let's start with some context. The idea of regular summits between Central Asian nations began at the UN General Assembly in 2017 when Mizoyv first proposed regular highlevel consultations between the Central Asian states also known as the C5. The inaugural meeting took place in 2018 in Astana, the Kazak capital, focused on reducing trade barriers and increasing cooperation on water and energy. This is a big priority for Central Asia, which has significant

1:36 energy potential due to its hydrocarbon resources and has experienced regional tensions over its limited water supplies. Around 70 million people live in the basin of the Amodia and Siridaria rivers, which central Asian countries have fought over for decades, and disputes over water control remain a source of geopolitical tension. Anyway, over the years, the C5 format has shifted from being an inward-looking summit focused mainly on crisis management to a platform for discussing greater regional ambitions. In 2023 and 2024, Azabaijan, a South Caucus' nation across the Caspian Sea, joined the format as a guest, putting the TransCaspian route, also known as the middle corridor, a shorter and more efficient trade corridor between Western China and Europe, bypassing both Russia's northern corridor and the Suez

2:23 Canal, at the center of talks by bringing Kazakhstan, which is primarily responsible for the financing of the middle corridor, into closer dialogue with Azabaijan, which has seen cargo transportation among the middle corridor or increased by 90% over the past 3 years. This expanded C5+1 format allowed the Central Asian countries and Azabaijan to better link things like customs procedures and digital data flows making the region more competitive. Then last weekend the 2025 summit took place in the Usuzbek capital Tash Kent where the five central Asian states voted to formally add Azaba to the group. USBC president Mizoyv called the decision to admit Azabaijan historic arguing that it would help build a solid bridge between central Asia and the

3:09 south caucuses paving the way for the formation of a unified space of cooperation. Mizoyv also proposed a formal regional block called the community of central Asia which would include a rotating secretariat, a council of elders to manage cultural issues and special presidential envoys. If it goes ahead, this would be a significant step towards further regional integration and sounds a bit like a central Asian EU with Mizoyv saying the group aims to form a quote single geopolitical and geoeconomic region. So what would this central Asian EU actually look like and could it work? Well, there aren't many details available about the reactions of the other C5 states, but they're likely to be supportive given that all five Central Asian countries in recent years

3:55 have said they want greater regional integration. Essentially, Mizoyv is framing the block, which also includes Aabaijan, as part of a wider central Asian integration project that already runs across the Caspian Sea and that now seeks to establish a transit and energy hub in the South Caucuses. At last week's summit, Mizoyv proposed seven key things. a 2035 regional trade program, a common investment space which sounds similar to the EU's ongoing project of a capital markets union, cooperation on major transport corridors, including the China Kyrgyzstanbekiststan railway and the Trans Afghan route, the adoption of a regional security plan, a decade for rational water use plan from 2026 to 2036, a regional water excellence center, and annual meetings on spiritual

4:41 heritage and new scientific initiatives. All in all, the proposed community of Central Asia seems to be building towards two things. Firstly, economic integration and secondly, increased cooperation in other areas like politics, security, water, and the environment. The main reason for this central Asian EU is economic integration. Since the regional summits were launched in 2017, Asbekiststan's trade with its neighbors has grown from€2.8 billion in 2017 to€6 billion in 2024. and aggregate GDP across Central Asia has increased by two and a half times to 450 billion euros. Industrial growth in the region also averages 6% per year, twice the global average, with new border trade zones expected to drive

5:27 further growth. Moreover, Central Asia's booming population, which is surpassing 80 million and is expected to reach 100 million by 2050, also offers an opportunity for demographydriven economic growth in the coming years. More broadly though, an EU style community of Central Asia would also give the region more influence in negotiations with global powers. Earlier this month, all five Central Asian leaders visited Washington DC together for talks on critical minerals with US President Donald Trump after a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation to repeal Soviet era trade restrictions on Central Asian countries, which they argued may be holding back American investment. For context, Central Asia holds deep reserves of rare earth minerals and produces roughly half

6:13 the world's uranium used for the generation of nuclear power. Until now, its economic links have mainly been with China and Russia, but it's also now being courted by the West. According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, in 2023, Kazakhstan exported $3 billion in key minerals to China, $1.8 billion to Russia, but only $544 million to the US. As such, an EU style community of Central Asia would give the block more leverage in negotiations, strengthening its influence in global supply chains. However, other forms of cooperation might prove more difficult. Political relations between the Central Asian countries haven't always been easy. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the region was divided into its five current countries along the

6:59 previous internal Soviet era borders, which cut across regions that were historically ethnically mixed. This created minority groups within new nation states leading to tensions and competition. For example, over water access between Usbek, Kyrgyz, and Tajic farmers. In fact, until as recently as this year, Kyrgystan and Tajjigstan saw a brief skirmish over a long-standing border conflict around the Kyrgyzstatkin, which killed around 100 people in September 2022. While the dispute was finally settled in March, underlying tensions remain which could create difficulties for a central Asian political union. Finally, there were also disagreements over how to approach neighboring Afghanistan. Previously, Isbekiststan has suggested it should be included in water

7:45 discussions due to its proximity to the Amudara. But Afghanistan's construction of the Kosh Teper Canal, due to be fully operational by 2028, has sparked concerns as it would divert about a third of the river's flow, away from other Central Asian regions. That said, including Afghanistan in a guest framework, as happened with Aabaijan, could help the block to engage more constructively with the Taliban in future. When a story like this breaks, the headlines aren't just fast, they're fragmented. Depending on where you get your news, you might be seeing a completely different version of the same event. But if we take a look right now using ground news, we can see that there are 71 sources currently reporting on it with most of the coverage coming from the center. If we dive a bit deeper, we can see that the left is focusing on the

8:31 US China rivalry and the right is highlighting the region's mineral diplomacy. We're able to get such a detailed analysis thanks to our sponsor this week, Ground News. If you're overwhelmed by the amount of outlets and stories that you're seeing online, Ground News has the solution for you. As they expertly collect and merge thousands of articles into one easy to access place, finally giving you an effortless way to consume news and digest media bias. And it doesn't even end there. Ground News offers you comprehensive breakdowns into the ownership, bias distribution, and factuality of each article, allowing you to dive even deeper into every story. For example, if you're worried about how much you can trust what's being said about a certain event, with a click of a button, you can filter and sort every

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