Plan your business trip to catch the next big boom: The Foot-Loose Central Asian Tigers

All we seem to see in the news today is political infighting, economic wars, smear campaigns by lobby groups, tensions and terrorism - all bound up in a new breed of (albeit recycled) anti-politics. As super-powers puff out their chests with military stand-offs the rest of the 'foot-loose and fancy-free' world is getting on with it. This is a natural progression. Alliances have shifted dramatically in the past few years because of the fast-moving (sometimes schizophrenic) foreign policy changes of major powers. The political or economic cost of hosting military bases or getting caught up in somebody else's 'conflict' are higher than ever. It's safer to draw lines and conduct cooperations on an shallower basis. Many countries both large and small are now trying to disentangle themselves, balance foreign relations and stay unaligned. This is a difficult task for countries such as Vietnam (trying to juggle the U.S. and China relationships) but in Central Asia this strategy is much easier and is already paying dividends.

India made a very smart move of becoming a full member of the Shanghai Cooperative Organisation (SCO) a few years ago. It's now using this framework to boost business ties with Central Asia:



For India, energy security is a major point of interest, but it's investments are diverse and rival the region's neighbouring giants; China and Russia. This gives the region a good opportunity for development. However, one major challenge still lies in the way of development - transport. But seeing how China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is already underway in the region it seems that 'The Silk Road' at least will soon be re-established:

https://nationalinterest.org/featAure/c ... tral-17150

For road transport to India political stability in Afghanistan remains a risk, but that hasn't put India off investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the region.

Interested in catching the boom? Look at a map and see how close Almaty, Bishkek, Tashkent, Dushanbe and Ashgabat are together (another reason why regional economic links have great potential). You can definitely get a lot into a single business trip - good luck.

What indicators can we use to get a feel for the progress of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)?

Steel prices give some indication. Steel is one of the major costs of construction (steel also used to be used as a general indicator of economic performance before the advent of the info economy). China currently produces almost half of the world's steel so the BRI also gives China some control over demand in order to make a well coordinated transition away from steel production. Have a look yourself.

https://gensteel.com/building-faqs/stee ... s/forecast

Talk to people who bought a house in a place before major transport links were established and saw the increase in property value. Now's the time to look at Central Asia.

If you are heading out soon the weather looks perfect in Almaty; a nice 25C at the moment. There's also a rather pleasant cafe culture developing. Almaty is a city built on an incline, and fresh mountain water rolls down the roadside streams from the hillside (ostensibly for drainage, but actually more of a water feature) making it rather scenic and relaxing. Just as Venice was on the 'Spice Route' for centuries and prospered from it Almaty will also be at a junction in the new 'Silk Superhighway' where the road to Europe, north through Moscow and South through Tehran pass.

https://i0.wp.com/www.eurasiareview.com ... ig1Kai.jpg