EAEU and BRI in Central Asia: Transformation from Land-Locked to Land-Linked Region?

Abstract

Central Asia is one of the least integrated regions of Asia. Being a landlocked region, it depends on its neighboring states, especially Russia and China for its international trade through land. Both these states also have geo-political and geo-economic interests in this region. Both have been pro-active to integrate Central Asia into ‘their’ initiatives of integration.  Russian led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are two good examples in this regard. It has been observed that both EAEU and BRI may complement each other in the fields of infrastructure and transportation network development, energy security, and environmental issues. However, there are certain challenges to both the initiatives which include the divergent natures of both initiatives. First, BRI is a bilateral project while EAEU is a multilateral institution with well-defined hierarchy, rules and regulations. Second, all the Central Asian Republics (CARs) are members of BRI, whereas only two CARs viz. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are members of EAEU. Third, both Russia and China compete with each other for the hydrocarbons of the region. However, both initiatives have failed to contribute substantially in the industrial development of Central Asia. This research focuses on how both EAEU and BRI projects would help out Central Asia to become a Land-Linked region. The article addresses the questions; what are the objectives of EAEU and BRI? Why have CARs joined these organizations? And How can CARs benefits from both the organizations while balancing Russia and China in their foreign policies? Qualitative research methodology with secondary sources has been applied to this research while World Orders and Neo-Functionalism explain the problem.