A Chat in the Yurt - Episode XVIII: EU development cooperation

Step into our Yurt and join us for a monthly conversation on Europe-Central Asia developments. In these series of podcasts EUCAM welcomes guests from both regions to discuss exciting new research and the latest developments in Europe and Central Asia. Guests range from academics to policymakers and from journalists to civil society activists. What is happening in Europe that Central Asians should know about? What events are unfolding in Central Asia that Europeans should understand? Together, we discuss society trends, political developments, and economic turns while assessing the past and looking ahead to what may unfold. In this episode, host Rashid Gabdulhakov interviews Kamila Smagulova who is a PhD candidate at Leiden University (and normally co-host of this podcast) and Jos Boonstra, EUCAM coordinator at CESS to discuss the EUCAM policy brief European Development Cooperation with Central Asia: From abstract to concrete. In the chat the ins and outs of EU development cooperation with Central Asia are discussed from ‘budget support’ to ‘blending and guarantees’ and a case is made for increased civil society attention to issues that the EU and Central Asia increasingly cooperate on; digitalisation and energy transition. Kamila and Jos present a few of their eight recommendations to make development cooperation focused on human interaction with long-term impacts on cooperation between both regions.