The fifth Consultative Meeting of the Heads of Central Asian States was held in Dushanbe and chaired by Tajikistan’s Presidency recently on Sept. 14, 2023. The gathering brought together the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, as well as representatives from the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO). The summit was welcomed by most analysts as a sign of the strong commitment and willingness of the post-Soviet states to foster regional cooperation. The joint statement revealed after the meeting was perceived as the reaffirmation of the leaders on resolving regional issues through the means of diplomacy. The adoption of comprehensive packages of agreements, including those related to land transport, health and well-being, and youth policy, highlighted the nature of the near future of Central Asian cooperation.
As an outcome, agreements on youth policy came out unexpectedly as one of the frontiers for fostering a regional collaboration after the gathering. Indeed, the heads of the states expressed their determination to improve youth by developing a common understanding/narrative through youth policy. Considering that Central Asian countries are experiencing an impressive burst of young populations with the highest average compared with the world, the documents signed on youth policy seem an important sphere of dialogue between the parties that have been constituted for the near future.
Inherently, youth diplomacy is an effective way of new public diplomacy of the states and international institutions. International youth policies are structured around different discourses and reason d’etre around the world. Specifically, a regional organization such as the European Union was taking the lead in determining the contours of international youth policies focusing on the soft themes around youth betterment through economic development, capacity building through training and cultural exchange programs ... Yet, what makes the youth policy in Central Asia unique is it provides a groundbreaking aspect for an effective narrative construction to states in line with the needs of new regionalism arising in Central Asia. Youth diplomacy as a new constructive actor in Central Asia points out how the heads of state interpret regional security and design a region adherent to its culture and identity.
As a result of an urgent need for state-building after their independence, post-Soviet states had already been actively developing significant social policies on youth to tackle cultural expansionism, consumption habits and brain drain. They are considering that Central Asia has an average age of 28 – this compared with the United States at 38 and the EU at 44 – the inclinations of the governments to develop a specific approach to youth-related issues sounds understandable. In that vein, Central Asia is becoming the epicenter of youth-related cultural activities with its carefulness on youth policy.
One should consider internally evaluating youth policy to understand the significance of youth diplomacy in Central Asia. The post-Soviet countries, which underwent considerable stages in state policy, including youth policy, focused on the sociopolitical programs shaped around the cultural and developmental programs to build a new identity in recent decades. As in the Kazakhistan example, Kazakhistan struggled with the lack of socio-political constructive ideology and the dominance of ethnic identity over the civil one while aiming to address culturological values such as providing youth social growth. It made Kazakhstan one of the most active countries in Central Asia on youth policy.
Through the strategic papers, Kazakhstan identified its youth chronologically, “Kazakhstan Strategic Development Plan 2030” (1997), “State Youth Concept” (1999), “Kazakhstan Youth Program” (2001), “2005-2007 Youth Program” (2005), “Kazakhstan Strategic Development Plan 2020” (2010), “Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy” (2012), “Kazakhstan Youth Policy Concept until 2020” (2013) and “Kazakhstan State Youth Law” (2015). Through these documents, youth has been placed in a very special context to realize the goals as a guarantor of national development. The papers included fundamentally descriptive questions for a narrative construction, “Who are we? Where is our direction? Where will we be by 2050?” questions were addressed to young people and the goal of “being among the 30 most developed countries” is assigned to young people as a mission.”
Similarly, since its independence in Uzbekistan, more than 20 laws and regulations on youth have been adopted. Recently, the law on “State Youth Policy,” adopted on Sept. 14, 2016, has constituted the legal basis through education to create developed, self-motivated, leading and energetic youth by referring to them as the country’s future. The law defined the main directions of the state youth policy in Uzbekistan: rights and freedoms, health and well-being, spiritual, intellectual, physical and moral development, education, and employment with a specific focus on promoting the spirit of patriotism and national and universal values. The law expressed lawmakers’ firm convictions to protect young people from actions that lead to the erosion of moral principles, the ideas of terrorism and religious extremism, separatism and fundamentalism. The law defined the main directions of the state youth policy in Uzbekistan: rights and freedoms, health and well-being, spiritual, intellectual, physical, and moral development, education and employment with a specific focus on promoting the spirit of patriotism and national and universal values. The law expressed lawmakers’ firm convictions to protect young people from actions that lead to the erosion of moral principles, the ideas of terrorism and religious extremism, separatism and fundamentalism. It also recognized the development of cooperation with international organizations that follow these directions.
In Russia, this predicament of youth in the country echoed in one of the first youth policy strategies drafted in October 2005, “Strategy of State Youth Policy in the Russian Federation (2006-2016),” which recognizes three goals for youth policy. The foundations of the document were the tensions in Russian society for the reformulation of the state and youth after the Soviet Union. Thus, the following regulations contained the empowerment of civil society and participation, alongside creating a normative and patriotic order that allows new identification of youth in the new state. The resulting policy recommendation combined all these aspects to determine the ideal youth by Russian youth policy. Thus, all approaches to youth policy in Central Asia should be evaluated in line with the political conjuncture of the region. Youth policy is mainly shaped around this sense of patriotism and civic responsibility through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to contribute to the moral and intellectual rhetoric of the governments. Countries also start to utilize youth diplomacy, building on these foundations as an effective foreign policy tool in which NGOs actively engage.
Youth diplomacy in Central Asia, which became one of the pillars of regional integration, scales up on this background. Thus, it can help the Central Asian countries through narrative construction to define a collective identity, which is perceived as a major obstacle to regional integration previously. The Central Asian countries still have different positions on their Central Asian regional identity, rooted in their historical, cultural, political and economic perspectives. For instance, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and perceive themselves as part of Europe, while Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan seem more oriented toward Asia and the Islamic world. On the other hand, Tajikistan has a strong Persian influence, while the others have Turkic origins. Some countries highlight their Soviet culture, while others underline their national sovereignty. However, the ideal developed around youth betterment in the region can help advance Central Asian integration, as it will facilitate the development of mutual trust, respect and understanding among the Central Asian countries.
Therefore, we will witness the increasing significance of youth diplomacy and a boost of international youth activities in the region. Effective transnational youth policies in the area can boost regional harmony and cooperation in line with the vision of Central Asian republics. With its young population, effective regional youth policies have the potential to influence future political dynamics of integration. For sustainable integration, Central Asian countries need to encourage the creation of a common identity, especially among youngsters, to address the generational disparities and cultural fragmentation through their public policies. This would help the region to sustain inclusive cooperation to realize the potential of the region fully.
*International Relations Specialist
