.
Competition between international actors exists in certain sectors. On the political level, the Russian-Chinese condominium reinforces the Central Asian regimes in their increasingly authoritarian line, just motivated by democratic reforms promoted by the EU and USA. At a strategic level, Russia remains the main partner in Central Asia. On the economic level, the competition is growing for Turkmen gas between Russia and China or even the EU, Kazakh oil, between Russia and the West. .
However, this natural competition can not hide another reality: none of the international actors in the region looking for exclusivity, or are willing to come into conflict with other power control on behalf of the region and have the financial means to meet the local needs. .
Development needs of the region are too expensive that only allow common international strategies respond, even partially, to the needs of society. This region has an undeniable but limited to exports of raw materials and sold as economic potential income economies. As income economies of these states are distinguished by the difficulty to redistribute the gains come in the form of currency and if the oil is a very special case is quite paradoxical social impact; as an increase in social and regional inequality, weak administrative structures, absence of real mechanisms and legal constraints that ensure decisions motivated by the public good. .
The main challenges to overcome this region are the institutional environment that discourage foreign investors, who criticize a less advantageous tax and the high degree of corruption that paralyzes the decision chain. The economic decisions of local governments partially logical hoarding of wealth depend on the part of local elites. The room for maneuver is limited in the region, as a whole, traditional sectors such as agriculture, oil and minerals, exploiting carried throughout the twentieth century.
