Astana and Tashkent Become Strategic Partners
by Sergei Gretsky (07/10/2013 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The recent visit of Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Uzbekistan on June 13-14 was closely watched in the capitals of other Central Asian states as well as Central Asia’s neighbors. The visit continued the discussions started last year during Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov’s visit to Kazakhstan when the two presidents initiated a process of closer alignment between Astana and Tashkent in regional security matters. This time the two leaders have taken relations between their countries a step further by signing a Treaty on Strategic Partnership.
CACI Analyst, June 26, 2013
Kazakhstan Adopts Controversial Pension Reform
by Georgiy Voloshin (the 06/26/2013 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On June 21, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed into law a bill introducing a comprehensive reform of the country’s pension savings system. The main novelty of the bill is a provision increasing women’s retirement age from 58 to 63 years, thus ensuring full equality with the working male population. Earlier in April, the chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Bank, Grigory Marchenko, made public the results of an independent assessment made by international experts according to which the state budget might lose US$ 19.6 billion worth of potential tax revenue by 2023, should a similar reform not be adopted by the end of this year.
Kazakhstan Goes G-Global
by Sergei Gretsky (the 06/26/2013 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In recent years, Kazakhstan has taken a number of steps to raise its international profile and firmly plant its flag on the world stage. The first success was scored when the country became Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2010 and hosted the OSCE Summit in December of that year. The next accomplishment was hosting the 7th Asian Winter Games in January-February 2011. Earlier this year Astana successfully outbid Liege (Belgium) to become the venue of Expo 2017. The Astana Economic Forum and its G-Global online platform, however, may turn out to be Kazakhstan’s most significant imprint on global politics and economics.
CACI Analyst, May 29, 2013
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Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, "Promise and Peril in the Caucasus," AFPC Insights, March 30, 2023.
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Putin's War In Ukraine and the Crimean War), 19fourtyfive, January 2, 2023
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Russia Needs Its Own Charles de Gaulle, Foreign Policy, July 21, 2022.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Rethinking Greater Central Asia: American and Western Stakes in the Region and How to Advance Them, June 2022
Oped Svante E. Cornell & Albert Barro, With referendum, Kazakh President pushes for reforms, Euractiv, June 3, 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell Russia's Southern Neighbors Take a Stand, The Hill, May 6, 2022.
Silk Road Paper Johan Engvall, Between Bandits and Bureaucrats: 30 Years of Parliamentary Development in Kyrgyzstan, January 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell, No, The War in Ukraine is not about NATO, The Hill, March 9, 2022.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, Kazakhstan’s Crisis Calls for a Central Asia Policy Reboot, The National Interest, January 34, 2022.
Book S. Frederick Starr and Svante E. Cornell, Strong and Unique: Three Decades of U.S.-Kazakhstan Partnership, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, December 2021.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, S. Frederick Starr & Albert Barro, Political and Economic Reforms in Kazakhstan Under President Tokayev, November 2021.