A competition promoted by the respective broadcasters chose the most representative athletes from each of the five countries. From the judoka rejected by the Russians who climbed onto the podium at the Olympics for Tajikistan to the Uzbek footballer who plays in the Premier League and led his national team to World Cup qualification. And the Kazakh who discovered he was a marathon runner after an illness.

The 12th annual session of the Dialogue between the European Union and Central Asian countries was held in Dushanbe. During the summit, Tajikistan agreed to conclude a wide-ranging partnership agreement with the EU, joining the processes underway in various forms in other countries in the region.

For some time now, the authorities in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan have banned end-of-school-year celebrations in order to ‘avoid excesses’. However, these celebrations continue to take place in secret in country houses or basements, with spending on gifts increasing year after year.

At the second Forum held in Kazakhstan after the one in Xi'an in 2023, China and the five countries in the region signed 58 trade agreements with investments of over billion. Among the priorities are transport routes and energy, but also the processing of rare earths. On the political front, Xi Jinping gained support for his condemnation of all forms of ‘trade wars involving tariffs and sanctions’.

The Berdymukhamedov government is mobilising to counter “foreign centres of ideological sabotage” which, in its view, are fuelling protests. Public officials will have to go door to door in villages to gather stories about how well people live in the country. They will be accompanied by artists who will demonstrate their skills by singing or playing traditional instruments.

Since the collapse of the USSR, the five former Soviet republics of Central Asia have been debating whether to abandon the Cyrillic alphabet in favour of Latin script. Some argue it more closely reflects the phonetics of Turkic languages, but the issue is entangled with broader calls for “de-Russification” in the context of the war in Ukraine. Even in Kazakhstan—where Nazarbayev launched the transition with the aim of completing it by 2031—serious doubts remain.