As Eurasia undergoes a profound geopolitical and geoeconomic transformation, Central Asia is increasingly emerging as a strategic hub linking Asia, Europe, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Once viewed primarily as a transit region, it is now becoming central to competition over trade corridors, energy routes, and supply chains that are reshaping Eurasian connectivity and economic integration. Competing connectivity initiatives and shifting trade routes are elevating the region’s strategic importance while intensifying geopolitical competition among regional and global powers. Within this evolving landscape, Türkiye is positioning itself as a key actor through its support for transregional connectivity projects and the Middle Corridor vision, while the Organization of Turkic States is increasingly consolidating its role as a complementary institutional framework that reinforces regional connectivity, deepens political and economic coordination, and advances cultural and strategic alignment across the Turkic world.
This session will examine how connectivity and geoeconomics are reshaping Central Asia’s role within the emerging Eurasian order. It will explore the growing strategic importance of transport corridors, infrastructure investments, and energy networks, as well as the competition surrounding projects linking Central Asia to the South Caucasus, Türkiye, and Europe. The discussion will also assess how geopolitical tensions, regional rivalries, and efforts to diversify trade and energy routes are transforming the region into a central arena of strategic competition, regional integration, and economic realignment.
Discussion Themes:
- How is Central Asia’s strategic role being reshaped by the intersection of connectivity projects, geoeconomic competition, and emerging “new regionalism” dynamics across Eurasia?
- In what ways are critical minerals, including rare earth elements, transforming Central Asia’s position within global supply chains and redefining the concept of mineral security?
- How do competing transport, trade, and energy corridors across Eurasia—such as those linked to the South Caucasus and the Zangezur Corridor—affect regional alignments and integration patterns?
- How does Türkiye’s connectivity vision and regional positioning influence or respond to the evolving geoeconomic architecture of Eurasia?