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On March 18, 2026, the International Conference "Europe and Central Asia: Economy, Politics, Security" was held in the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

At Session 1 "Global Centers of Power in the Central Asian Region" Stanislav Pritchin, Head of the Sector for the Central Asia of the Center for post-Soviet Studies of IMEMO, Cand. of Science (History), presented a report "EU's Place in the Multi-Vector Foreign Policy Strategy of Central Asia".

The report analyzed the place and role of the EU as a partner in the multi-vector foreign policy system of Central Asian countries. The European Union is a major investor, one of the largest trading partners, and a partner in political dialogue through the "EU + Central Asia", "FRG + Central Asia" and other formats. At the same time, the EU's strength in relation to the region is economic interaction, but it is also unbalanced, with Kazakhstan’s dominance in geographical terms and with the prevalence of low-grade imports in structural terms. Institutional and regulatory relations between the parties are limited, with only some aspects of interaction covered by international law. Security sphere remains Beyond the focus of European diplomacy, which has significantly reduced the EU's strategic importance as a foreign policy partner.

The conference analyzed a range of long-term political and socio-economic processes in the Central Asian region, as well as the configuration of great power forces in light of current world events.

Participants examined the opportunities and risks for Central Asian states associated with intensifying competition between the great powers of Europe and America, as well as in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. They also discussed the compatibility and differences between the foreign policy strategies of partners and rivals, the fundamental principles of building ties between them in multilateral and bilateral formats. Geopolitical and geo-economic processes were analyzed both at a regional level and with a particular focus on the roles of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Germany and Italy, as well as the Chinese, American and Turkish factors in interregional relations.