ASEF Unplugged, a meet-and-greet event series, comes to Almaty on 28 November for sharing information and ideas about the state-of-play of the arts sector in the Central Asia region and the trends and opportunities for setting up regional connections to pursue international collaboration initiatives.

Why is inter-regional connection important? How does Central Asia perceive inter-regional cooperation? Where are the closest bilateral connections between Central Asian countries and the rest of Asia and Europe? What are the common gaps and challenges in Central Asia and how what can inspire larger Asia-wide connections for this region? What benefits do multilateral connections offer?

ASEF Unplugged will bring together important voices from Asia, Ms Janna MAMBETOVA, Cultural Dialogue, Ms Odgerel ODONCHIMED, Executive Director, Arts Council Mongolia and Ms Sreyashi SEN, Darpan Global, Singapore and will be facilitated by Ms Anupama SEKHAR, Director, Culture Department, ASEF. The session will present the cases of Kazakhstan’s position in terms of regional engagement, Mongolia’s regional engagement policy, and schemes as part of bilateral relations between Kazakhstan and Singapore. The discussions at the session will also reflect on the findings of the latest UNESCO Global Report, ‘Re| Shaping Cultural Policies’.

ASEF Unplugged Kazakhstan will be held as part of the programme of the ‘Central Asian Forum on Cultural Policy and Management’ organised by the UNESCO Almaty Office and Cultural Dialogue.

As part of its commitment to multilateral cooperation, Kazakhstan became a member of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in 2014. Currently, 30 European and 21 Asian countries along with the ASEAN Secretariat and the European Union constitute the ASEM partners. The membership to join this dialogue process is open to other countries in the Asia-Europe region.

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