Open Society Institute Priorities for the EU Strategy on Central Asia

Produced by the Open Society Institute, this paper lays out a perspective on the proposed EU Central Asia strategy from an independent/private grantmaker with more than a decade of experience working in the region. It welcomes this new initiative as an opportunity for the EU and Central Asia to develop a more meaningful and mutually reinforcing relationship over the long-term.

The EU, with its distinctive experience of regional institution-building and integration based on a shared commitment to democratic values, would lose much by trading those values for perceived short-term gains in a region where it has until now been only a peripheral player. By contrast, a collaboration based on core principles, such as the rule of law, respect for human rights, and support for democracy, offers the only guarantee of credibility and long-term sustainability to a future EU-Central Asia partnership.