This year's Forum will be the biggest ever, bringing approximately 400 entrepreneurs, traders, businessmen, policymakers, diplomats and journalists together from across the region as well as from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and even countries as far afield as Latvia and Estonia. USAID has been a strong supporter of this event from the very beginning.  As with previous Forums, the intent is to strengthen ties among and between South Asia and Central Asia, two important regions that were once inextricably linked but in recent decades have grown apart. The overarching goal of this fourth Forum is to move "From Dialogue to Deals".  Among other things, this formulation underscores the importance of pragmatic approaches as well as concrete results. Last year's Central Asia Trade Forum provided several examples of outstanding success.  For example, one of last year's attendees was Alisher Abdullajoov, founder of Voolen Teks in Uzbekistan.  As a result of connections that he made in Almaty, his company signed three contracts valued at $2 million -- and more than tripled his production of plasterboard.