On August 29-30, 2024, the 4th Annual Research Conference of the CAREC Institute (CI), co-organized with the China & Central Asia Studies Center (CCASC) at the College of Social Sciences, was held at KIMEP University. The conference opened with remarks from Kabir Jurazoda, Director of the CI, Damian A. Riviez, Vice-President of Academic Affairs at KIMEP, and Kadir Basboga, Senior Regional Integration and Trade Promotion Economist at the Islamic Development Bank. Johannes Linn, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institute, delivered a keynote address focusing on the important role of organizations such as the CI in translating research into concrete action.

This year marked the first in-person conference, featuring speakers from the CI, KIMEP University, CCASC, the Regional Knowledge Sharing Initiative between the Asian Development Bank and China (RKSI), the China Regional Cooperation Fund for Poverty Alleviation, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), among others.

The conference was organized around six thematic sessions covering a wide range of topics, such as sustainable and renewable energy, climate adaptation strategies, trade and connectivity, economic and social equality, and innovative development strategies. A special session held in collaboration with ADB-PRC RKSI, focused on the CAREC Corridor Performance Measurement and Monitoring Database (CCPMM), which assesses cross-border trade in the CAREC region.

Professor Xiaotong Zhang, Academic Director at CCASC, concluded the event with a lecture titled "The Geography for Prosperity in the CAREC Region," discussing Central Asia's economic resilience and its renewed importance in global trade amidst geopolitical instability.

A video recording of the lecture is available on CCASC’s YouTube channel: