2008년 발생한 글로벌 금융위기는 고도성장 중인 중앙아시아 경제에 치명적인 결과를 초래하였다. 금융위기에 따른 중앙아시아 경제의 급격한 위축은 1차 원자재 수출에 절대적으로 의존하여 외부 충격에 취약한 경제구조가 근본적인 원인이라고 할 수 있다. 중앙아시아 국가들은 장기적으로 지속가능한 성장(sustainable development)을 위해 원자재 중심 수출경제구조를 획기적으로 개선하고자 하는 신성장전략을 추진하고 있다. 이 같은 전략에 따라 이 지역의 무역 및 투자 환경도 급속도로 변화되고 있어, 본 보고서에서는 급변하는 무역투자 환경에 대응하는 한국의 새로운 접근방법과 진출전략을 모색하였다.
The Global Financial Crisis had a catastrophic effect on Central Asian economies, which had been growing rapidly up to that point. The economic growth rate in Kazakhstan was over 10% annually from 2001 to 2007, but nose-dived to 3.2% in 2008, and the country would record minus growth in 2009. The sharp recession of the economies of Central Asian countries caused by the global financial crisis was the result of Central Asian countries having weak economic structures that were vulnerable to the external factors. Central Asian countries made an effort to transform their Soviet-style, centrally-planned economies to market economies starting in 1991, but had experienced difficulties in the rest of the 90s. Their economies began growing actively from early 2000s, yet it was growth driven by heavy dependence on natural resources such as petroleum, gas, nonferrous metals, and raw cotton. The exports of natural resources depends upon the world economic situation, and the lack of the demand for the natural resources following the crisis had a destructive impact on Central Asian economies, as the Crisis caused a drastic contraction of the world economy, which greatly reduced the demand for natural resources. In order to overcome the Global Financial Crisis, Central Asian countries are focusing on economic recovery and the stimulation of exports not through increasing investment in natural resources for a short-term strategy, but make an effort to build a sustainable system for economic development. A 'sustainable' development strategy for Central Asian countries means that they want to improve the structure of their economies, that are overly reliant upon exports of natural resources. …