Views from Central Asia on the UK’s Foreign Policy in the Region

The aim of this inquiry is to “scrutinise the UK’s diplomatic activity and soft power influence in Central Asia” and to “examine priorities and challenges for the Government as it seeks to deepen its engagement on security, energy, trade, environment and investment to pursue mutually beneficial objectives.” In June 2023, the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) and the John Smith Trust (JST) co-organised a. [...] However, the current situation presents a new opportunity, and supporting greater cooperation between different sectors in and across Central Asian countries would enable the UK to contribute to better governance as well as sustainable economic development – and therefore make Central Asian countries more reliable and resilient partners in the long term. [...] o There is an understanding in the business community that cooperation across the region is beneficial, but there is a vast gap between the attitudes and behaviour of the private and public sectors in this area. [...] Partnership and open collaboration: o There appears to be a generational divide amongst the populations in Central Asian countries in terms of support and suspicion of Western influence and interest in their region – probably linked to media consumption patterns. [...] However, in order to maintain and increase this support among the population, the UK needs to demonstrate that it is interested in more than self-serving economic and trade partnerships and stands for and invests in the wellbeing of Central Asian societies.