President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev participated in the fourth consultative meeting of the heads of states of Central Asia on July 20-21 in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyz Republic, Qazmonitor reports with reference to the presidential press service.
The topic of the meeting centered around the current geopolitical situation in the region. President Tokayev in his speech called for the fraternal states to band together and proposed five actions to strengthen the political and economic ties between countries.
1. Inviting extra-regional partners
According to the president, the Central Asian countries should expand partnerships beyond geographical borders. He said the consultative meetings of Central Asian Leaders could be attended by high-ranking representatives of other neighboring states, such as Russia and China, as special guests.
"Regular consultations of the Secretaries of the Security Councils should be launched to jointly develop solutions for preventing security threats. In addition, I propose that ministers for foreign affairs be instructed to meet regularly, at least once every six months, to develop coordinated approaches to key regional and international issues."
2. Peace at the borders
Tokayev stressed the need to eliminate tension and instability in the region. He said: "every shot fired at interstate borders echoes heavily throughout the region."
"Kazakhstan, the only post-Soviet state that has completely delimited its long border, is ready to provide all possible assistance in finding mutually acceptable solutions," the president offered.
"In particular, we propose creating a professional platform to develop mutually acceptable approaches to border delimitation. Experienced lawyers, cartographers, border guards and other specialists should be involved in this work, and the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs could coordinate it."
3. Building economic hubs, AIFC Multipass
To form a solid economic basis for multilateral cooperation, another proposition is to launch a network of cross-border trade and economic hubs that would serve as supporting points of the Central Asian Common Trade Transmission System.
There are already industrial trade and logistics complexes being built on the Kazakh-Uzbek and Kazakh-Kyrgyz borders. There is an agreement with Tajikistan to create wholesale and distribution centers, and with Turkmenistan to build a grain terminal.
On the matter of attracting foreign direct investments, the president said that the Astana International Financial Center could be utilized as an effective platform. At the moment, more than 1,400 companies from 64 countries of the world are registered with AIFC. And most foreign participants of AIFC are interested in doing business not only in Kazakhstan but also in neighboring countries.
Additionally, the center developed a special visa category - AIFC Multipass - to increase the region's investment appeal. The visa will allow AIFC partners entry to the territories of member countries for business trips.
4. Central Asian land bridge
Tokayev said it is necessary to increase the region's transport connectivity and consistently improve transit conditions. He also governments should "closely cooperate on optimizing the tariff policy and simplifying administrative procedures for transit traffic".
"Kazakhstan is ready to participate in the construction of the Mazar-e-Sharif - Kabul - Peshawar railway. In particular, we can provide an uninterrupted supply of track structure materials and rolling stock. For our part, we call on our partners to actively use the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway, the shortest route between East Asia and the countries of the Persian Gulf."
The president also expressed support for the construction of Turkmenbashi - Garabogaz - Kazakhstan road and the reconstruction of Zhanaozen-Turkmenistan road.
"Of course, our ambitions should not be limited to positioning Central Asia as solely a land bridge and supplier of raw materials. Building a truly sustainable economic model requires large-scale industrialization and advanced development of new promising sectors of the economy."
5. The climate question
Modern climatic challenges and growing demand for water and energy resources require decisive measures to ensure rational use of water resources in the Aral Sea basin, said Tokayev.
Kazakhstan has also been said to attach great importance to the implementation of joint hydropower projects for the mutually beneficial use of water resources of transboundary rivers.
"We are actively discussing the Kambarata HPS-1 project with Kyrgyzstan. Yesterday [the Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uzbek presidents] discussed this issue in detail. The hydroelectric power plant will strengthen the energy security of the Central Asian countries and improve conditions for the expansion of agricultural production."
Tokayev also suggested increasing cooperation for the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea.
In order to coordinate joint efforts to tackle environmental problems, he proposed to establish a Central Asian project office for environmental protection and implementation of a coordinated policy on climate change in the region.
