One digital market of 80 million? Central Asian business makes its case
A draft regional agreement from the B5+1 business platform would let e-documents, digital IDs and data rules work across all five Central Asian republics.
Central Asia’s private sector has put forward a blueprint for something the region’s governments have discussed for years: a common digital space.
At a regional roundtable in Astana on September 28, business and technology experts presented a draft Agreement on Cooperation among Central Asian States in Digital Policy and Artificial Intelligence Governance. The aim is mutual recognition of electronic documents and aligned digital rules across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, five markets with a combined population of more than 80 million people.
Built by business
The proposal comes from the IT & AI working group of the B5+1, the private-sector platform linking the United States with the five Central Asian republics. The group consulted entrepreneurs and industry associations representing more than 60 companies and organisations, including Meta, Mastercard and Google.
The draft covers five areas:
- Electronic document management and digital signatures
- Digital identification
- Personal data protection
- Cybersecurity standards
- Regulation of artificial intelligence
Alongside it, the group presented an advisory Code of Ethics for the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in Central Asia. It rules out practices such as algorithmic discrimination, child exploitation, synthetic fraud content and the unlawful use of personal data. The initiative also calls for AI datasets and language resources in Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tajik and Turkmen.
What it means for CASA clients
Today, a company selling digital services across Central Asia faces five sets of rules on signatures, identity and data. A shared framework would turn five small compliance projects into one regional market, which changes the business case for U.S. platforms, fintechs and software companies considering the region.
The proposals are expected to feed into the B5+1 Regional Business Agenda for 2027. Companies with a stake in how these rules are written have a window now to contribute through industry associations and the B5+1 process, before the framework is settled.