The development of a spirit of regional cooperation has been the main political development in the Greater Central Asian region in recent years. This process is accelerating and taking place at different levels. Primary among the initiatives underway is the deepening of cooperation among the five states of Central Asia, where the consultative meetings of Heads of State are being insti- tutionalized and expanded into cooperation on the ministerial and parliamentary level, governed by strategies of cooperation adopted by regional leaders. Beyond this, more intensive structures of cooperation have been set up between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the leading states of the region. Furthermore, trilateral mechanisms have emerged, including one centered on the Fer- ghana Valley involving Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as a Trans-Caspian tri- lateral involving Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Taken together, these mechanisms of cooperation at different levels and involving different partners suggest a rapdly evolving coop- erative spirit across the region, undergirded by an emerging common identity.