EVENTS

Abstract:        

The World Economic Crises and Growth of China show a decreasing trend. The leadership of countries, looking for a long time anti-crises strategy, see the Silk Road Economic Belt as a serious beginning in that direction. After the announcement of the Economic Belt by the Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2013, China’s efforts for partnership with the Central Asian countries gathered pace. While the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has actively supported the idea, the leadership of the other Central Asian countries have also started thinking about mechanisms to participate in the Economic Belt. Even though China has conducted 'think-tank' seminars, and conferences in this regard, there are problems and questions that are still to be debated and addressed. Enough attention has not been given to the problem of interests and distribution of benefits from the Economic Belt among the partner countries in the framework of a rising China and its geo-politics. Reasonable points of view regarding the destinies of regional economic blocs are yet to be found. Even though China will remain the main financial source of the Economic Belt development, the political and social consequences of this status of China for countries and partners remain unknown. The question is whether this Economic Belt will be the new level of regional economic integration, or whether it would lead to the disintegration of economic unions in favour of the new alternative to globalization.

About the Speaker:

Professor Khojamahmad Umarov heads the Department of Macroeconomic Research at the Institute of Economic Studies of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, Republic of Tajikistan. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Academy of Sciences in Moscow and has delivered lectures at the universities of Moscow, London, Stockholm, Cairo, New Delhi and Prague. Prof. Umarov has authored over twenty books covering topics like labour migration, rural economic studies, Tajikistan-India trade relations and Tajikistan’s trade potential in the global markets. A former faculty member at the Tajik State University, Prof. Umarov was involved in the monitoring of Tajikistan’s progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations as well as several other projects with international organizations.