The Integration in Central Asia: Restrictions and Perspectives

Internal regional integration in Central Asia has been one of the most popular foreign policy directions of regional players since independence in 1991. The first attempt to deepen intraregional cooperation was made in the 90s of the last century. But due to internal contradictions, unwillingness to real integration, as well as due to the activation of the Russian Federation to restore political and economic ties with the region with the creation of the EurAsEC, the regional projects being developed were combined with the Russian initiative. The second stage of regional integration was launched in 2016 with the coming to power of Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Uzbekistan. An annual high-level consultative format has begun, within the framework of which Central Asian leaders discuss topical issues on the regional agenda. At the same time, attempts to revive regional integration are taking place against the background of unprecedented activity of external players who offer their own forms of deepening intra-central Asian interaction, but with the involvement of a sixth player. At the same time, to date, as part of the implementation of the Russian initiatives of the EAEU and the CSTO, institutions and a regulatory framework have been formed, which, with some exceptions, have already become the main one for integration with the participation of other post-Soviet countries. In fact, without relying on this foundation, full-fledged regional integration of the Central Asian countries is impossible The article proposes to consider the factors contributing to integration in Central Asia, as well as to analyze the constraining aspects for an exclusive intraregional dialogue.