Coming of Age: Central Asia and the OSCE in a Shifting Security Landscape

Date: 25–26 November 2025
Venue: OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Botanicheskiy pereulok 1A

About the Conference
Marking 50 years since its origins at the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), the OSCE carries a legacy shaped by both achievements and challenges in its unique mission to promote security and cooperation across dividing lines. On this anniversary, the OSCE Academy’s Annual Security Conference 2025 provides a timely platform to examine the OSCE’s promise and record, accomplishments and challenges, strengths and constraints, with a particular focus on Central Asia, the southeastern-most region within the world’s largest regional security and cooperation organization.
Situated at the intersection of major geopolitical currents and key transregional connectivity routes, Central Asia faces rising environmental pressures while also showing encouraging trends in intra-regional peace and cooperation. Since the early 1990s, the OSCE has been a key international actor in the region, actively engaged in all five Central Asian states through initiatives spanning all dimensions of comprehensive security.
To mark the Helsinki final act’s 50th anniversary, the OSCE Academy hosts a conference dedicated to critical reflection and forward-looking dialogue on international security, governance, regional cooperation, and sustainable development. Central Asia represents a key geographic space where these themes—central to the OSCE’s mandate—intersect through both complex challenges and emerging opportunities.
The conference brings together researchers, academics, and practitioners for interdisciplinary exchange and policy-relevant discussion on multilateralism, institutional resilience, and regional strategies in the face of growing global uncertainty.
The OSCE Academy’s Annual Security Conference is supported by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and organized in partnership with the University of Siena.

Organizers
The OSCE Academy in Bishkek is a public foundation that promotes regional cooperation, conflict prevention, and good governance in wider Central Asia through postgraduate education, professional training, and intellectual exchange. The Academy offers MA degree programmes in Economic Governance and Development, Politics and Security, Human Rights and Sustainability as well as a BA degree programme in Economics. The Academy provides expert training and conducts demand-driven research. More information is available at: www.osce-academy.net.
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), established in 1959, is a leading independent research institute on international politics and areas of relevance to Norwegian foreign policy. Formally under the Ministry of Education and Research, NUPI nevertheless operates as an independent, non-political instance in all its professional activities. Research undertaken at NUPI ranges from short-term applied research to more long-term basic research.
The University of Siena (UNISI), established in 1240, awards first cycle, second cycle and single long cycle degrees in the following faculties: Political Science, Economics, Pharmacy, Law, Engineering, Arts and Humanities, Medicine and Surgery, Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences as well as several interfaculty degrees. Postgraduate education at the University of Siena is carried out in postgraduate schools, master’s programmes, training, advanced training and refresher courses and summer schools, while postgraduate research is performed in the doctoral schools.