Lingering political conflicts over the ethno-religious character of these nations consistently threaten to metastasize into national and regional crises, making the region a prime target for meddling by foreign powers.
But officials say the new plan will give priority to environmental protection, as well as improving public services and regional transport, and making the region more attractive to foreign business.A report by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China has a mixed assessment of the likely impact.
Making the region more attractive to technology and science-based SMEs is top of the agenda.
In the past two years the insurgency has gradually increased in Kunduz, making the region increasingly volatile.
In the Galician villages one can get by comfortably on $25 a day, making the region one of Europe's most remarkable bargains.
The other side argues that war, no matter how victorious in the first instance, could end by making the region and the world more dangerous than before.
"What's really making the region work is that it's considerably cheaper than New York and Washington," Joel Kotkin, author of "The City: A Global History," said.
The initiatives sweeping Latin America are making the region the world's laboratory for government policy aimed at steering consumers away from processed food.
Most of those communities already have light pollution ordinances in place, Mazzotta said, making the region an ideal location for the country's first Dark Sky Reserve.
The seabed around the islands is also thought to contain deposits of nickel, zinc and titanium, making the region of potential interest to mining.
The presence of militants in Idlib was undermining the Syrian peace process and making the region a base for attacks on Russian forces in Syria, he added.
