European and Central Asian academic circles to augment cooperation under new project
European Union and Central Asia are going to launch the next joint project, which to bolster and boost relations between two regions. The project “SEnECA – Strengthening and Energizing EU – Central Asia relations” will officially start on 1 January 2018 and will run for a period of two years until 31 December 2019, says the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), the Brussels-based umbrella organization for the major research institutes in the field of European affairs throughout Europe. SEnECA has four main objectives: 1) to establish an interdisciplinary network of researchers working on Central Asia in Europe and European integration in Central Asia; 2) to accompany and give recommendations on the revision of the EU-Central Asia Strategy; 3) to intensify the existing relations between the EU and Central Asia; and 4) to promote the relevance of Central Asia to Europe among academics, policy-makers, media and civil society. SEnECA is coordinated by Prof. Michael Kaeding, Chairman of TEPSA, Jean Monnet, professor for European politics at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Dr. Katrin Böttger, TEPSA Board member and Deputy Director of the Institut für Europäische Politik (IEP). The partnership community of the projects consists of 12 leading European and Central Asian research centers and think tanks. Turkmenistan will be presented by NGO “Ynanch Wepa”. Its domain cover rendering socials services for the population, developing of information materials and organization of educational activities. TEPSA and International Centre for European Studies (CIFE) will be responsible for the awareness-raising and communication. They will inform about the milestones and outcomes of the project and arrange project events such as photo exhibition and a public conference in Brussels. On 24 and 25 January 2018, Berlin will host the launch presentation of SEnECA. EU will fund the project worth over 1.5 million Euros In framework of the Horizon 2020 Programme, which is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme.
