"The program will familiarize students with U.S. foreign policy priorities in Central Asia and allow them to interact with their peers on topical issues throughout the region, such as: 1) the economy with a focus on the development of regional trade flows and prospects for American investment and trade; 2) common regional challenges in the field of ecology; 3) human rights; 4) security with an emphasis on terrorist threats," the document says.
The overall goal of the C5+1 Youth Council initiative, according to the American side, is to develop a regional network of "young leaders" who contribute to the development of the priorities of the C5+1 diplomatic platform.
The State Department's website clarifies that "C5 + 1" is a "whole-of-government approach of the US government to Central Asia", providing for interaction with five countries of this large region - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The budget that the United States is ready to allocate to recipients of funding for the implementation of the program should not exceed $ 120 thousand.
As follows from the documents of the American department, Washington has been sponsoring this project since 2015. For example, in 2020, the State Department was ready to spend from $ 90 thousand to $ 120 thousand to work with the Youth Council, while funding was designed for three years.
According to political scientist Alexander Dudchak, such programs are aimed at creating "agents of influence" in the post-Soviet space.
"In the United States, they are "spuding" the territories of the former USSR, trying to reach different segments of the population, focusing either on secondary school teachers or on English-speaking students. They are trying to involve all groups of the population on different grounds: professional, hobbies, gender. This tactic was common in other countries, including Ukraine, Serbia and even Russia. Now the United States has intensified its vigorous activity in order to create agents of influence for itself in various communities along the entire perimeter of the Russian borders, "he said in an interview with RT.
Earlier it was reported about the intentions of the United States to allocate funds to work with opinion leaders in Kazakhstan to form "strong democratic institutions" and decarbonize the republic's economy.