Central Asia and Turkey share a strong bond of religion, culture, language, and geography. This proximity gives impetus to economic relations and their multilateral trade. Pakistan also shares the same elements of identity. Pakistan, Central Asian Republics, and Turkey are part of the Economic Cooperation Organization which further raises the prospects of cooperation. Turkey, Pakistan, and Azerbaijan collectively fought against Armenia on the diplomatic front and supported the legal position of Azerbaijan over the Karabakh region. This shows the high confidence between these brotherly nations.

Pakistan adds great value to economic relations with Turkey and trade in minerals, machinery, cotton, textile, and defense equipment. Turkey exported certain goods i.e. hot rolled iron, raw cotton, and compasses worth $570 million to Pakistan. In the last two decades, Pakistani imports from Turkey increased by 8% annually which reflects a prospective future of both trading partners. Pakistan aims to cement its relations with Turkey and develop a railway network for connectivity.

Azerbaijan is also a brotherly country of Pakistan geographically and a strategic partner of Pakistan connected through Afghanistan. Economic cooperation between both partners is two-dimensional i.e. military and commerce which adds strategic value to both countries. Pakistan exported goods worth $25.1 million to Azerbaijan by the end of 2020 with a 15.4 % increase in annualized rate. Although Azerbaijani exports to Pakistan are low, there lies a huge potential between both partners.

Pakistan, Central Asian countries, with Turkey and Azerbaijan together make a comprehensive block of countries that can build their strong economic cooperation and through this cooperation, the aim primarily is to help countries to prosper and build a future together where there is less misery and more progress.

The end of the conflict in Afghanistan with the Taliban in power indicates stability in Afghanistan but it needs a lot of diplomatic and political effort to enable Afghanistan to be a self-sustained functioning state. In the same manner, Azerbaijani victory in the Karabakh region adds potential and confidence in Azerbaijan to become an active economic player in regional cooperation. Under the banner of BRI, connectivity between Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia is linked with peace and stability in the region. With the conclusion of these two conflicts, operationalizing the transport corridor in Eurasia remains a matter of time. These regional partners are planning to develop a railway network between Central Asia and Pakistan via Afghanistan to connect it with CPEC, an arm of BRI, and then road connectivity with Eastern Europe from Central Asia. Since China is a neighbor of Central Asia and Pakistan is a huge landmass, road and rail connectivity between China and Europe.

The major impediment to this initiative is the stability in Afghanistan. The end of the war between the Taliban and the Ashraf Ghani regime is not a precursor to peace because the Taliban do not have the resources to administer state affairs and provide its people with necessities of life which can trigger chaos and civil war. Another impediment to this initiative is the critical public opinion and political discourse in Europe about BRI. Although Europe is a big trading partner of China it considers BRI an undemocratic initiative and a debt trap but in essence, it is not because China believes in inequality in development opportunities.

To overcome these impediments, China needs to build confidence and goodwill among all trading partners by practical measures of the positive balance of trade, equity in the free flow of goods, ideas, and services with transparency and accountability. On the issue of Afghanistan, the regional states and global partners of Afghanistan must support its people. The United States should release Afghan funds to stabilize the Afghan government enabling socio-economic development. 

Muhammad Asif Noor is the Secretary-General of the Pakistan-Shanghai Cooperation Organization Friendship Forum (PSCOFF) and the Director of the Islamabad-based Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies (IPDS).

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