Join the Central Asia Program at George Washington University for a talk with Fabienne Bossuyt on the role of the European Union in Central Asia. Although the European Union’s engagement with Central Asia has remained limited, the EU’s role in the region has evolved from an invisible and arguably ineffective donor to that of a full-fledged actor over the past fifteen years. Nevertheless, the EU still punches below its weight in the region. Because the EU’s strategy for Central Asia, developed in 2007, became increasingly outdated and subject to criticism from a wide range of stakeholders, a new strategy will be launched in May 2019. In this talk, Fabienne Bossuyt provides an early assessment of this new strategy. She evaluates whether the new strategy enables the EU to optimize its role as an external actor in Central Asia and ensure that the EU’s involvement in the region produces tangible and lasting results that effectively contribute to sustainable development. 

RSVP is requested.

Speaker:

Fabienne Bossuyt, assistant professor, Centre for EU Studies, Ghent University