Unity is set to be a defining theme for Central Asian states in 2026.Speaking at a November 16 conclave of Central Asian leaders in Tashkent, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev issued a full-throated call for the creation of a new regional economic organization, which he dubbed the Central Asian Community.
Since the start of 2025, regional leaders have conducted summits under a “Central Asia Plus” format with the United States, the European Union, China and Russia: the times demand that Central Asian states negotiate with one voice to maximize trade opportunities, Mirziyoyev asserted. “Our strength is in unity, our path to success is in friendship and cooperation,” Mirziyoyev said. “Only united, based on mutual respect, solidarity and strategic vision, we will be able to achieve our noble goals.” Under the Uzbek president’s vision, the gathering of Central Asian leaders that has taken place annually since 2017 formally known as the consultative meeting of heads of state would transform into a permanent institution with a “strategic format,” complete with a secretariat and a rotating presidency.
Each Central Asian state would also appoint a presidential envoy to lead coordination efforts, Mirziyoyev stated.A “priority task” for the community would be achieving “a qualitatively new level of trade-economic and investment cooperation,” Mirziyoyev said.
He went on to stress that the regional organization should foster the development “of high-tech regional infrastructure and transport-logistics potential,” as well as work to mitigate “issues of ecology, climate and a deficit of water resources.” Mirzioyev’s community isn’t limited to the five Central Asian states.
The Tashkent meeting acknowledged Azerbaijan to be a Central Asian nation in spirit, even though it sits across the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev participated in the discussions, and Mirziyoyev announced that meeting participants had decided to include Azerbaijan in future regional summits as a “full participant.” “The accession of fraternal Azerbaijan will give the Consultative Meetings a powerful impetus [for the] the development of consolidated solutions on issues of sustainable development,” Mirziyoyev said. “We will build a strong bridge between Central Asia and the South Caucasus, pave the way to the formation of a single space of cooperation.” In a policy paper published on the eve of the Tashkent gathering, the Uzbek leader made the case that Afghanistan also needed to be included in any regional grouping, insisting that the country’s reconstruction is a critical requirement for Central Asia’s future stability and prosperity. “This country is a not a periphery, but a natural part of our shared region,” he wrote.
Fellow Central Asian leaders did not share any immediate impressions about Mirziyoyev’s call to action, but the speeches of Tajikistan’s Emomali Rahmon, Kyrgyzstan’s Sadyr Japarov and Turkmenistan’s Serdar Berdymukhamedov all contained calls for more coordinated action to develop trade.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s speech signaled that Kazakhstan’s stance is generally aligned with Uzbekistan’s on the need for an organized, collective response to a host of issues. “The time of closed borders and isolation is behind us,” Tokayev said. “Our goal is to strengthen the status of Central Asia as a region of dynamic social and economic development.” Tokayev floated an idea for establishing a regional research center to promote the development of Central Asia’s mining and minerals sector, noting that the full extent of the region’s mineral wealth has yet to be mapped.
By uniting resources, he said, Central Asia could “attract advanced technologies to the region and implement innovative solutions.” The Kazakh president also called for the creation of a regional convention to manage increasingly scarce water resources.
He said he would use an upcoming meeting of regional leaders, scheduled to be held in Astana in April 2026 under the auspices of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea, to launch a drive to negotiate a regional water convention.
While the notion of economic collaboration is gaining traction, neither Mirziyoyev nor any other leader in Central Asia currently envisions any form of political unification along the lines of the EU model.
The creation of a Central Asian Community, then, doesn’t necessarily put the region on a path towards union.The Central Asian Community “must develop on a solid foundation of sovereignty, equality, and non-interference in internal affairs,” Mirziyoyev wrote in his policy paper. “No one should impose foreign models on regional countries or create supranational structures.
Cooperation in Central Asia must remain voluntary, pragmatic, and focused on tangible results.”