Editing Central Asia (section)

=== International cooperation ===
The five Central Asian republics belong to several international bodies, including the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]], the [[Economic Cooperation Organization]] and the [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation]]. They are also members of the [[Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program|Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation]] (CAREC) Programme, which also includes Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Mongolia and Pakistan. In November 2011, the 10 member countries adopted the ''CAREC 2020 Strategy'', a blueprint for furthering regional co-operation. Over the decade to 2020, US$50{{nbs}}billion is being invested in priority projects in transport, trade and energy to improve members' competitiveness. The landlocked Central Asian republics are conscious of the need to co-operate in order to maintain and develop their transport networks and energy, communication and irrigation systems. Only Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan border the [[Caspian Sea]] and none of the republics has direct access to an ocean, complicating the transportation of hydrocarbons, in particular, to world markets.<ref name=":13" />

Kazakhstan is also one of the three founding members of the [[Eurasian Economic Union]] in 2014, along with Belarus and the Russian Federation. Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have since joined this body. As co-operation among the member states in science and technology is already considerable and well-codified in legal texts, the Eurasian Economic Union is expected to have a limited additional impact on co-operation among public laboratories or academia but it should encourage business ties and scientific mobility, since it includes provision for the free circulation of labour and unified patent regulations.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":02">{{cite book|url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002354/235406e.pdf|title=Countries in the Black Sea basin. In: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030|last1=Erocal|first1=Deniz|last2=Yegorov|first2=Igor|publisher=UNESCO|year=2015|isbn=978-92-3-100129-1|location=Paris|pages=324–341|access-date=1 June 2017|archive-date=30 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630025557/http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002354/235406e.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kazakhstan and Tajikistan participated in the Innovative Biotechnologies Programme (2011–2015) launched by the [[Eurasian Economic Community]], the predecessor of the [[Eurasian Economic Union]], The programme also involved Belarus and the Russian Federation. Within this programme, prizes were awarded at an annual bio-industry exhibition and conference. In 2012, 86 Russian organisations participated, plus three from Belarus, one from Kazakhstan and three from Tajikistan, as well as two scientific research groups from Germany. At the time, Vladimir Debabov, scientific director of the Genetika State Research Institute for Genetics and the Selection of Industrial Micro-organisms in the Russian Federation, stressed the paramount importance of developing bio-industry. "In the world today, there is a strong tendency to switch from petrochemicals to renewable biological sources", he said. "Biotechnology is developing two to three times faster than chemicals."<ref name=":13" />

Kazakhstan also participated in a second project of the Eurasian Economic Community, the establishment of the Centre for Innovative Technologies on 4 April 2013, with the signing of an agreement between the Russian Venture Company (a government fund of funds), the Kazakh JSC National Agency and the Belarusian Innovative Foundation. Each of the selected projects is entitled to funding of US$3–90{{nbs}}million and is implemented within a public–private partnership. The first few approved projects focused on supercomputers, space technologies, medicine, petroleum recycling, nanotechnologies and the ecological use of natural resources. Once these initial projects have spawned viable commercial products, the venture company plans to reinvest the profits in new projects. This venture company is not a purely economic structure; it has also been designed to promote a common economic space among the three participating countries.<ref name=":13" /> Kazakhstan recognises the role civil society initiatives have to address the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis.<ref name="civil-soc">{{cite web|title=EU Central Asia Civil Society Forum: Making Our Partnerships Stronger|url=https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/87703/eu-central-asia-civil-society-forum-making-our-partnerships-stronger_en|website=EU External Action|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129091614/https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-Homepage/87703/eu-central-asia-civil-society-forum-making-our-partnerships-stronger_en|url-status=live}}</ref>

Four of the five Central Asian republics have also been involved in a project launched by the [[European Union]] in September 2013, IncoNet CA. The aim of this project is to encourage [[European Union's scientific cooperation beyond the bloc|Central Asian countries to participate in research projects]] within [[Horizon 2020]], the European Union's eighth research and innovation funding programme. The focus of this research projects is on three societal challenges considered as being of mutual interest to both the European Union and Central Asia, namely: climate change, energy and health. IncoNet CA builds on the experience of earlier projects which involved other regions, such as Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and the Western Balkans. IncoNet CA focuses on twinning research facilities in Central Asia and Europe. It involves a consortium of partner institutions from Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Portugal, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. In May 2014, the European Union launched a 24-month call for project applications from twinned institutions – universities, companies and research institutes – for funding of up to €10, 000 to enable them to visit one another's facilities to discuss project ideas or prepare joint events like workshops.<ref name=":13" />

The [[International Science and Technology Center]] (ISTC) was established in 1992 by the European Union, Japan, the Russian Federation and the US to engage weapons scientists in civilian research projects and to foster technology transfer. ISTC branches have been set up in the following countries party to the agreement: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The headquarters of ISTC were moved to Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan in June 2014, three years after the Russian Federation announced its withdrawal from the centre.<ref name=":13" />

Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan have been members of the [[World Trade Organization]] since 1998, 2013 and 2015 respectively.<ref name=":13" />