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In 2023, the Central Asian leaders showed increased willingness to institutionalise cooperation
through annual summits and unified approaches to third countries. Despite foreign policy challenges
associated with the Russia–Ukraine war, water disputes with Afghanistan and clashes on the Kyrgyz–
Tajik border, the focus of these meetings remained economic.
Since 2017, the five Central Asian leaders have met in Central Asian Summits in Almaty (Kazakhstan, 2018), Tashkent (Uzbekistan, 2019), Awaza, Turkmenistan (2021), and Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyz…
