This presentation is about central Asian countries. it talks about their culture, cuisine etc. And also about the trade picture and WTO membership.

1. CENTRAL ASIA

2. INTRODUCTION
Central Asia consists of:
 Kazakhstan
 Tajikistan
 Turkmenistan
 Uzbekistan
 Kyrgyzstan

4. People
Several ethnic groups (all
part of larger ethnic
group, Turkic), including:
Kazakh
Kyrgyz
Turkmen
Uzbek
Russian
Religion
Traders and conquerors
brought their religious
beliefs to the region.
Islam is the main
religion in Central Asia.
In most of the region’s
Christianity is also
practiced.
Languages
Each ethnic group
speaks its own
language.
In most countries,
more than one
language is spoken.
When the Russians
conquered the region,
they established
Russian as the official
language.
They also introduced
the Cyrillic alphabet,
but most countries now
use the Latin alphabet.

5. COUNTRY CAPITAL OFFICIAL LANGUAGES
UZBEKISTAN Tashkent Uzbek
TURKMENISTAN Ashqabat Turkmen
TAJIKISTAN Dushanbe Tajik, Russian
KYRGYSTAN Bishkek Kyrgyz, Russian
KAZAKHSTAN Nur-Sultan Kazakh, Russian

6. KAZAKHSTAN
 Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia and the ninth
largest in the world.
 Main industries are oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead,
zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron
and steel; tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric motors,
construction materials.
 Main import partners – Russia, China, Germany, Ukraine
 Kazakhstan is the largest unexplored oil bearing region in the world.
 Oil, gas and mineral exports are key to Kazakhstan’s economic
success.
 It is the seventh-largest producer of wheat in the world.
 The country’s major crops include wheat, barley, cotton and rice.

7. UZBEKISTAN
 Uzbekistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia. It shares borders with
Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the
east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south.
 Islam is by far the dominant religion in Uzbekistan, as Muslims constitute
90% of the population while 5% of the population follow Russian Orthodox
Christianity, and 5% of the population
 Agriculture and agro-industrial sector contribute about 17% to Uzbekistan’s
GDP.
 Cotton is Uzbekistan’s dominant crop, accounting for roughly 11% of the
country’s GDP.
 Natural resources like mining of gold, oil, copper, lead, zinc, tungsten and
uranium is done.
 It is the world’s seventh largest producer of gold mining about 80 tons per
year and holds the fourth largest reserves in the world.

8. KRGYSTAN
 Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is
bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to
the southwest and People's Republic of China to the east.
 Agriculture is an important sector of the economy in Kyrgyzstan.
 Kyrgyzstan's terrain is mountainous, which accommodates livestock
raising, the largest agricultural activity, so the resulting wool, meat and
dairy products are major commodities.
 Main crops include wheat , sugar beets, potatoes, cotton, tobacco,
vegetables, and fruit.
 Islam, Christianity, Roman Catholicism, and Buddhism. Islam is the
dominant religion of Kyrgyzstan: 80% of the population is Muslim while
17% follow Russian Orthodoxy and 3% other religions Bishkek Orthodox
Church Karakol Dungan Mosque.

9. TAJIKISTAN
 Tajikistan is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia.
Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west,
Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People's Republic of China to the east.
 The current economic situation remains fragile, largely owing to
corruption, uneven economic reforms, and economic
mismanagement.
 With foreign revenue precariously dependent upon remittances from
migrant workers overseas, exports of aluminum and cotton, the
economy is highly vulnerable to external shocks.
 Tajikistan has rich deposits of gold, silver, and antimony. The largest
silver deposits are in Sughd Province, where Tajikistan’s largest gold
mining operation also is located. Tajikistan also produces strontium,
salt, lead, zinc, fluorspar, and mercury.

10. TURKMENISTAN
 Also known as Turkmenia. It is bordered by Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to
the south and southwest, Uzbekistan to the east and northeast, Kazakhstan to
the north and northwest and the Caspian Sea to the west.
 It possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources and
substantial oil resources.
 Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world to Russia, Iran and Qatar in natural gas
reserves.
 Gas production is the most dynamic and promising sector of the national
economy. In addition to supplying Russia, China and Iran, Ashgabat took
concrete measures to accelerate progress in the construction of the
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan and India pipeline (TAPI).
 Turkmenistan is a net exporter of electrical power to Central Asian republics and
southern neighbors.
 Half of the country's irrigated land is planted with cotton, making the country the
world's tenth-largest producer.

11. TRADE PICTURE
EU trade with Central Asia has grown and the EU is now the
region’s main trading partner, accounting for about a third of its
overall external trade. Nevertheless, the total turnover of the EU's
trade with Central Asia remains low.
 Central Asian exports to the EU largely center on a few
commodities, particularly crude oil, gas, metals and cotton fiber.
 EU exports are dominated by machinery and transport
equipment, and other manufactured goods. Such products
account for more than half of EU exports to the region.

13. WTO Membership
 WTO membership of all the Central Asian countries is a pre-
condition for closer trading and investment relations with the
EU.
 Kyrgyz Republic has been a WTO member since 1998.
 Tajikistan became a WTO member in 2013.
 Kazakhstan became a WTO member in 2015.
 In June 2019, Uzbekistan expressed a renewed commitment to
join the WTO in the near term.
 Turkmenistan has not yet applied for WTO membership.

14. EUROPEAN UNION AND
CENTRAL ASIA
 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) governs the
EU's bilateral trade relations with Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan.
 The EU's bilateral trade relations with Kazakhstan are covered
by an Enhanced Partnership and cooperation Agreement
(EPCA), signed in Astana on 21 December 2015. This new
agreement, which constitutes the first of its kind signed by the
EU with one of its Central Asian partners, elevates relations
between the EU and Kazakhstan to a new level. The new
agreement, once ratified by all Member States and the
European Parliament, will replace the PCA in force since 1999.
Its provisional application started on 1 May 2016.

15.  The EU's bilateral trade relations with Kazakhstan are covered by
an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA),
signed in Astana on 21 December 2015. This new agreement, which
constitutes the first of its kind signed by the EU with one of its
Central Asian partners, elevates relations between the EU and
Kazakhstan to a new level. The new agreement, once ratified by all
Member States and the European Parliament, will replace
the PCA in force since 1999. Its provisional application started on 1
May 2016.
 The EU has concluded an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation
Agreement (EPCA) with Kyrgyz Republic.
 The EU is negotiating an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation
Agreement (EPCA) with Uzbekistan. Three rounds of negotiations
between the EU and Uzbekistan have taken place.