Spheres of Influence Conference Kicks Off in Samarkand

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A conference about the growing geopolitical competition between three global players for influence in the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia opened on Thursday in Uzbekistan.

Photo: BIRN

The two-day conference, organised by Uzbekistan’s Anhor.uz in collaboration with BIRN, n-ost from Germany and JAM News from Georgia, brings together journalists, researchers and experts from the Western Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia.

N-ost’s Jakob Mardell, the editorial coordinator of the Spheres of Influence Uncovered project, said in his opening address that by “encouraging cross-border, data-driven research”, and by empowering collaboration among local journalists, the conference and the overall project aim to shed light on the increased competition in the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia between China, Russia and the EU.

The Spheres of Influence Uncovered project, of which this conference is a part, has been going on for two years already.

In the ancient city of Samarkand, one of the focal points along the route of the historic “silk road”, experts and researchers at the conference will discuss the current state of play, the flow of money, as well as the local economic, political and cultural impact from these geopolitical trends.

Several panels aim to cover the ways in which the three competing players aim to increase their soft power.

Journalists from the seven selected countries, Georgia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Tajikistan and the host country of Uzbekistan – who have been researching FDI flows, trade and green energy projects – will present the data they collected so far, introducing it as a valuable resource to the wider community.

They will also make connections and discuss potential future collaborations in producing further data-driven journalistic stories.

Speaking on the first day, BIRN’s former Head of Programmes, Aida Ajanovic, presented the collaborative initiative, spearheaded by BIRN, to build a database of EU, Russia and Chinese investments in the seven countries which are part of the project.

Underlying the importance of a database, which would greatly help the wider understanding and future research into this topic, Ajanovic said that despite the challenges in collecting the data base, “BIRN will remain committed to building and launching it” for a wider audience.

The Spheres of Influence Uncovered project, among other things, aims to identify Russian, Chinese and EU economic activities in Eurasia, expose their consequences and downsides and inform the general public about its findings.

As part of this effort, the participating journalists will continue to produce country-based and cross-border reports.

The project is funded by Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.