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Pension authorities from six Central Asian and South Caucasus states gathered in Samarkand on 27–28 October for a regional conference on the long-term sustainability of pension systems, leaving with two signed bilateral agreements and a shared agenda centred on artificial intelligence and demographic forecasting.
The conference was organised under the International Association of Pension and Social Funds (IAPSF), whose member states — Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan — all sent pension experts. The agenda reflected pressures common across the region: ageing and shifting populations, evolving labour markets, and the question of whether existing social security architectures can absorb the socioeconomic changes expected over the next five to ten years.
AI and Forecasting on the Agenda
A substantial portion of the two-day programme was devoted to digital tools. Experts examined how artificial intelligence and modern information technologies could be applied to demographic forecasting, social analysis and the day-to-day management of pension systems. Discussions did not shy away from the downside: participants also weighed the limitations and risks that come with introducing digital solutions into systems that millions of people depend on for retirement income.
Medium- and long-term pension planning and the assessment of social security policy effectiveness were identified as priority areas requiring closer cross-border cooperation, particularly as demographic structures diverge across the region.
Bilateral Agreements Signed
The most concrete outcomes came at the close of the conference. Uzbekistan’s off-budgetary Pension Fund, which operates under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, signed a memorandum of cooperation with Kazakhstan’s Unified Accumulative Pension Fund — formalising an agreement to expand bilateral ties in the pension sector.
A separate joint action plan was approved between Uzbekistan’s Pension Fund and the State Social Protection Fund under Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population. Both instruments are intended to facilitate the exchange of expertise and deepen cooperation in pension provision between the signatory states.