Industrial and agrarian potentials of Central Asian countries as a foundation for the competitiveness of national economies

Abstract

This article assesses the industrial and agrarian potential of Central Asian countries as a foundation for enhancing the competitiveness of their national economies, given the region’s continued dependence on commodity price cycles and its transport-geographic isolation from the world’s major economic centers. The aim of the study is to provide a scientific justification for priority directions in forming integrated production structures capable of ensuring a full production cycle, based on a comprehensive comparative analysis of the industrial-agrarian potential of the five regional countries. The analysis rests on two groups of criteria – structural preconditions (natural resources, infrastructure development, labor availability) and quantitative economic indicators (GDP, industrialization level, exports, economic structure) – with the study organized around Kazakhstan as the regional leader. The scientific and practical significance of the work lies in systematizing accumulated knowledge on regional integration, a topic insufficiently studied in the international literature with respect to the post-Soviet space, and in identifying priority sectors (energy, chemical industry, agro-industrial complex) and specific commodity chains (cotton, grains, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and others) promising for the formation of integrated structures. The contribution of the study lies in its cross-country comparison grounded in verified official data, with an explicit acknowledgment of analytical limitations (incomplete statistics, divergent national methodologies, and the descriptive-comparative rather than strictly causal nature of the conclusions). The practical value of the findings lies in their applicability to policy recommendations for sectoral ministries, as well as their potential to serve as a foundation for further institutional and investment-focused research.