30 Years of Diplomatic Relations

Dear Readers,

Welcome to this edition of Caspian Affairs!

To say that we live in unprecedented times is often just an empty cliché, but I think it is justified as we look back over the past year. The COVID-19 pandemic sweeping around the world and the related global supply-chain problems, the accelerating consequences of climate change,
the growth of authoritarianism in a number of countries, the U.S. and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan and the triumph of the Taliban – all of this, and more, made 2021 a year that historians will study closely for years to come.

Also in 2021, the Caspian Policy Center completed its fifth year in Washington, DC, and is grateful for its important partners in government, private business, and academia around
the world. Despite the severe disruptions caused by the pandemic, the CPC and its partners moved forward with important projects like the Trans-Caspian Forum and the Caspian
Security Conference, as well as many other virtual meetings and discussions. We completed two important visits to the Caspian region while maintaining all necessary health precautions, and we continued to publish and distribute, both on our website, www.caspianpolicy.org, and by email to our members and subscribers, important articles and reports about political, security, economic, and energy news in the greater Caspian region. And based on ideas from our friends around the world, we have continued to make policy recommendations that we believe will make our world a better place.

An important development of the digital age is the emergence of the “hive mind” that allows people from all over the world to exchange accurate information – it’s important to emphasize accurate – and to recommend solutions to problems that might not occur to traditional groups of elites in the worlds of government and private-business. This is the democratization of global cooperation, and we believe that the Caspian Policy Center is playing an important role in this process. If ideas have occurred to you that it seems governments and businesses haven’t considered, we invite you to contact us at [email protected] so that our experts can consider your suggestions and pass them along to the appropriate recipients, either through our articles and reports, during our various events, or in private conversations. Working together, we can all make our difficult world a better place for the generations to come.

Again, we are grateful for your interest in – and support for – the Caspian Policy Center. We look forward to another successful year of collaboration.

Ambassador (ret.) Richard E. Hoagland

Editor-in-Chief
Caspian Affairs Magazine