Economic Integration in Central Asia: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Intra-regional economic integration in Central Asia remains low. This might be incompatible with these countries' desire to diversify their economies and move away from resource dependence. Evidence presented in this paper shows that Central Asian economies' ability to produce more sophisticated goods - measured by a complexity index - has been declining. To trade with greater variety of goods, Central Asian economies need to decrease transportation costs and trade barriers, making more products and services tradable across the borders.