World Economic Forum opens in Almaty

The World Economic Forum's (WEF) second Eurasia Economic Summit opened on Tuesday in Kazakhstan, bringing together 500 business participants, members of the political establishment from Central Asia, the Caucasus and surrounding areas, as well as academics and the media. "The forum provides a very comprehensive view to the development of economies in all of Central Asia and the surrounding area," a summit participant, Armands Pupols, economic and environment officer for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), told IRIN from the southern city of Almaty. "It touches on such issues as investment climates, political and geopolitical risks, trans-boundary water management, tax policies, and poverty," he explained, adding there were still many problems in these areas, despite some progress in the past few years. Focusing on eight core countries - five of them in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) and three in the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia), discussion will also include the surrounding area (China, Iran, Russia and Turkey), as well as other nations (Afghanistan, India and Pakistan) which play an important part in determining the fate of the core countries. Despite substantial progress achieved in macroeconomic terms over the past two years, the region remains fragile and dependent on improvements in structural reform and reduction in security risks. The two-day summit, the second to be held in Almaty in the last two years, focuses on "sustaining growth in uncertain times". Indeed, the need for increased regional integration was the dominant theme expressed by an impressive array of Central Asian leaders attending. Speaking at the opening plenary session, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev remarked that they had already tested mechanisms for confidence building and cooperation in the military field, and now hoped to develop cooperation in trade and the economic and humanitarian fields. "In the long term, none of us can build a flourishing economy while our neighbours are poor," he asserted. That sentiment was shared by others in the light of the 11 September events and the subsequent anti-terrorist campaign, demonstrating that ignoring events in one country can have an impact on even the most successful countries. "No one can live well while his neighbour is in need," Tajik President Imomali Rahmonov added. But according to Pupols, economic integration is not developing fast enough - particularly given the number of regional organisations involved in the process. "We hope that this event will raise existing problems and will provide possible solutions," he said. According to a statement by the WEF, participants this year will identify the latest trends, gain unparalleled insights and contribute to improving the investment climate in the region. The summit would be interactive, consisting mostly of workshops and brainstorming sessions rather than traditional panel sessions, with workshops designed to bring key decision-makers, experts and stakeholders together to pursue three objectives. Included in those were: to debate the key factors shaping the issues on the business, geopolitical and economic agenda; share knowledge on strategies and solutions; and to propose and take collective action, it said. The WEF is an international organisation committed to improving the state of the world. The Swiss-based forum provides a collaborative framework for the world's leaders to address global issues, engaging particularly its corporate members in global citizenship.