Taipei, Nov. 23 (CNA) A two-day annual international forum focused on Central Asia issues opened Thursday in Chungli, Taoyuan County, gathering government officials, academics and industry leaders from Taiwan and Central Asian countries.
Central Asia, which today comprises the independent republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, will be a region of global strategic influence in the future with its rich natural resources, said Fu Jen-kun, president of the sixth Taiwan-Central Asia Forum.
"Taiwan cannot afford to overlook the massive potential of the region, business-wise or politics-wise, although we know too little about it, " said Fu, who also serves as director of the Graduate Institute of Central Asia Studies at Ching Yun University (CYU), the main organizer.
"When we discuss Central Asia, the impact of its neighbors -- Russia and China -- can never be ignored," Fu also noted.
The forum consists of nine panel discussions on an array of topics about Central Asia, especially Kazakhstan.
A total of 29 theses are to be presented at the forum on topics such as the Eastern Turkistan issue, the security challenges of relations between China and Kazakhstan, the situation in the Caspian Sea area, the energy competition of the great powers in Central Asia, and China's maneuvering in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Foreign attendees who shared their views with local academics on the first day included CYU Assistant Professor Erkin Ekrem, Kazakhstan Agriculture Research Center researcher Larissa Geronina, Institute for Comparative Central Asia Studies researcher Nicolay Dombrovsky, Energy Integrated Enterprise General Executive Chary Ernepesov of Turkmenistan and Jenishbek Junushaliev, an academic at the National Kyrgyz Academy of Science.
Central Asia, which today comprises the independent republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, will be a region of global strategic influence in the future with its rich natural resources, said Fu Jen-kun, president of the sixth Taiwan-Central Asia Forum.
"Taiwan cannot afford to overlook the massive potential of the region, business-wise or politics-wise, although we know too little about it, " said Fu, who also serves as director of the Graduate Institute of Central Asia Studies at Ching Yun University (CYU), the main organizer.
"When we discuss Central Asia, the impact of its neighbors -- Russia and China -- can never be ignored," Fu also noted.
The forum consists of nine panel discussions on an array of topics about Central Asia, especially Kazakhstan.
A total of 29 theses are to be presented at the forum on topics such as the Eastern Turkistan issue, the security challenges of relations between China and Kazakhstan, the situation in the Caspian Sea area, the energy competition of the great powers in Central Asia, and China's maneuvering in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Foreign attendees who shared their views with local academics on the first day included CYU Assistant Professor Erkin Ekrem, Kazakhstan Agriculture Research Center researcher Larissa Geronina, Institute for Comparative Central Asia Studies researcher Nicolay Dombrovsky, Energy Integrated Enterprise General Executive Chary Ernepesov of Turkmenistan and Jenishbek Junushaliev, an academic at the National Kyrgyz Academy of Science.