Carnegie Moscow Center
In recent years, Turkey’s foreign policy has undergone a fundamental transformation and the country has begun to play a more aggressive and assertive role.
The 2011 conference focused on new actors and new agendas, reflecting the need to develop cooperative responses to challenges being posed by changing technology, distributions of political power, interest in nuclear energy, and security conditions in key regions.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, but the nature of the organization and its role remain somewhat unclear.
While the United States is an important factor shaping Sino-Indian relations, the role of the United States in relations between China, India, and the countries of Central Asia receives far less attention.
Flanked by China and South Asia, Central Asia serves as the confluence for a number of regional issues with global implications, including energy supply, drug trafficking, and the future of Afghanistan.
Kyrgyzstan has experienced a year of significant changes and political achievements, including a popular uprising against a president and a move to a parliamentary system of government, and many challenges still lie ahead.
Recently, NATO and the European Union have made significant efforts to engage with Russia as an important partner for both France and the wider EU.
While Kyrgyzstan's newly elected parliament has convened its first session, there is still no ruling coalition and the situation in the country remains unpredictable.
Given the current status of nuclear security and nonproliferation in South Asia, nuclear powers like China, Russia, and the United States should look for a path of engagement for India and Pakistan to be brought into the global nonproliferation regime.
Afghan opium cultivation, and subsequent drug production and trafficking, continue to be a source of instability in Afghanistan and the surrounding region, with significant international implications.