On the 16th of October, The Institute for Central Asian Studies hosted its first conference titled The ‘New Silk Road: Opening Up Investment in Central Asia,’ at the Great Hall, King’s College with over 300 guests. The Institute's main aim is to be a bridge between Central Asia and the UK, improve relations and focus on making positive changes in central Asia by working together with policy makers and decision makers and providing independent first-hand analysis of how to address the anxieties of Central Asian people. 

Darius Nasimi, Founder and President of the KCL Institute for Central Asian Studies, opened the event. The panel speakers were Roger Holland (Council Member, BKS), HE Alisher Shaykhov (Ambassador of Uzbekistan to the UK), Colonel Bob Stewart, MP (Chair of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan APPG's), Baroness Stern (Member of the House of Lords and Co-Chair of the APPG on Tajikistan), Counsellor Shao Zheng (Embassy of China to the UK). Mathieu Boulegue (Research Fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme) moderated the panel discussion.