Eurasia / Features
TIIF 2026: Albania looks to Central Asia and Middle Corridor links to Asia
When Albanian President Bajram Begaj addressed the Tashkent International Investment Forum (TIIF), he was making the case for a relationship that, by his own government's admission, has barely existed for the past three decades.
TIIF 2026: Europeans rush in to a booming Uzbekistan
When Lord Jason Stockwood, Britain's Minister of State for Investment, addressed an investor panel at the fifth Tashkent International Investment Forum (TIIF) in June, he was brimming with enthusiasm.
TIIF 2026: From airports to biotech clusters Uzbekistan and Korea scale up new industrial partnership
Uzbekistan-Korea Business Forum showed that for Seoul, Central Asia country has become a key partner.
Uzbekistan seeks to become the digital command centre of the Middle Corridor
As billions of dollars are poured into infrastructure across Central Asia and the Caucasus, the official responsible for coordinating much of the Middle Corridor says the route's biggest challenge is not physical infrastructure but governance
Uzbekistan seeks to escape the raw materials trap as critical minerals boom gathers pace
Uzbekistan is seeking to transform itself from a supplier of raw materials into a producer of higher-value industrial goods as the global scramble for critical minerals accelerates.
TIIF 2026: Uzbekistan looks beyond tax breaks as special economic zones become engines of industrialisation
Uzbekistan is seeking to transform its network of SEZs. Policymakers and investors are increasingly focused on how Central Asia can convert abundant natural resources into higher-value economic activity.
Commentary: Kokand and Forgotten Origins of Soccer in Central Asia
Local institution, not foreign import.
TIIF 2026: Uzbekistan's $4 trillion Islamic finance opportunity
Uzbekistan is an unusual case in the Islamic world. Its population of nearly 40mn is overwhelmingly Muslim — around 90% — yet the country has operated since independence as a secular state, with a conventional western-style banking system.
TIIF 2026: An Uzbek boom is underway
At the fifth Tashkent International Investment Forum, Shavkat Mirziyoyev laid out the most ambitious reform agenda in Central Asia. Ben Aris reports from a country that is transforming faster than almost anyone expected.
TIIF 2026: Central Asia, new Asian tiger
Central Asia used to be thought of as sitting at the “navel of the world,” about as far away from everywhere as it was possible to be. Today that perception has changed as once again it finds itself at the centre of things.
Will US take up Kazakhstan’s offer to host Iran’s uranium stockpile?
Geopolitics experts see plan as entirely realistic. Central Asian country is a nonproliferation-minded middle power Tehran could accept without seeming to capitulate to Washington.
Why the Baku-Supsa pipeline is back at the center of the energy game
The transfer of operational functions of the Western Route Export Pipeline, better known as the Baku-Supsa pipeline, to the state authorities of Azerbaijan and Georgia may at first glance look like a purely technical development.
Kazakhstan advances reform agenda to attract investment and diversify economy
Kazakhstan is pursuing a broad programme of economic reforms aimed at attracting long-term investment, deepening capital markets and accelerating diversification beyond extractive industries.
India's many territorial disputes and their impact on its economic potential
For much of the 26 years since the beginning of the millennium, India has aimed at becoming a rising economic power by way of first becoming a service centered hub and gradually shifting towards becoming a centre of manufacturing.
New Pakistan-Iran road routes and Central Asian trade
A Eurasianet partner post from the Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst.
Azerbaijan's big gas push
Azerbaijan used Baku Energy Week to push new gas exports, upstream investment, and a larger US role in its energy sector.