Presidents of Central Asian countries will discuss the issues of security in the region and cooperation in the economic sphere at the fourth consultation meeting, which is taking place in the Kyrgyz city of Cholpon-Ata (Issyk-Kul region) on Thursday. This was stated by Muratbek Azymbakiev, head of the foreign policy department of the administration of the Kyrgyz head of state, commenting on the agenda of the summit.
"The presidents will exchange views on strengthening cooperation among Central Asian states on joint response to challenges and threats to regional security, discuss prospects for expanding cooperation to ensure sustainable economic growth of states in the region, as well as further strengthening of cultural and humanitarian cooperation among Central Asian states," he said.
Azymbakiev said that following the meeting, the leaders of the five Central Asian states are expected to sign several documents aimed at "strengthening friendship, good-neighborliness and cooperation between the countries of the region."
The presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will participate in the meeting. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan and leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan arrived in Cholpon-Ata on July 20. Presidents of Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Emomali Rahmon, are expected to arrive on Thursday.
Kazakhstan's position
During the third consultative meeting in Turkmenistan last August, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed an initiative to intensify work on increasing trade between the countries of the region and expanding the range of goods to be supplied. The Kazakhstani side, he assured, is ready to increase export supplies to the Central Asian countries to $1 billion.
Tokayev also suggested uniting the efforts of the states to create a single commodity supply chain integrated into the transport corridors of Central Asia. "This new infrastructure, consisting of wholesale and distribution and agro-logistics centers, will allow coordinated delivery of our goods to the markets of the Eurasian Economic Union, CIS and third countries," he explained.
In addition, the president of Kazakhstan proposed that the countries make joint efforts to attract investment in strategically important sectors of the regional economy. In his opinion, special attention can be paid to anchor investment projects in hydropower, industry, mining, agriculture, transport and communications.
According to the Kazakh leader, the countries of the region can also return to the issue of creating the Interstate Water-Energy Consortium of Central Asia, which will harmonize the interests of the states in the fields of hydropower, irrigation and the environment.
Dushanbe suggests paying attention to food security
Tajikistan is ready for close co-operation with Central Asian countries in trade, industrial production, the digital economy, modern innovations and technologies, tourism, food security, transport and energy security. Rahmon announced this during the third meeting of the region's leaders.
In his assessment, given the situation in the world and the region, the Central Asian countries should attach "serious importance to the development of new effective measures to develop cooperation in priority areas.
In this regard, the president of Tajikistan stressed the need to further expand trade and economic cooperation, strengthen cultural and humanitarian ties, expand cooperation in healthcare, including ensuring the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population, and the interaction of the countries' security agencies in a joint fight against threats and challenges.
He also stated the need to take urgent measures to jointly combat terrorism, radicalism, drug trafficking and other threats of our time.
The head of Tajikistan drew the attention of his colleagues to the global issues of climate change, melting glaciers, reducing the risk of natural disasters and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Platform for discussing the region's problems
Uzbek political analysts believe that during their previous meetings, the leaders of the region have demonstrated a strong willingness to play a primary and key role in addressing the region's most pressing problems. In particular, according to Akramzhon Nemmatov, first deputy director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the president of Uzbekistan, the consultative meetings provided a platform for constructive discussion and agreed solutions to the region's common problems. Largely thanks to these meetings "industrial co-operation projects have started in the countries of Central Asia, joint investment companies and funds are being created, co-operation in transport and transit is expanding, and cross-border trade and co-operation between regions is developing. In just a few years, through joint efforts, the region has shed the label of "Eurasia's powder keg" and is now perceived as a reliable and predictable partner and a space of sustainable development. Uzbekistan has no doubt that the upcoming meeting of the region's heads of state in Kyrgyzstan will be an important factor in regional consolidation and stability.
Energy and transport
"We are on the way to forming in Central Asia favorable political, legal and economic conditions for safe and sustainable energy partnership, aimed both at satisfying inter-regional demand for energy resources and providing access to world markets through international transit corridors," said former President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the previous summit in Turkmenistan. According to him, the energy partnership in the region should be aimed at creating a "powerful" energy infrastructure both within the region and along its external perimeter. Also, during a meeting in Turkmenistan in August 2021, he called for the start of drawing up specific plans for the formation of an integrated transport system of the region.
The first summit of Central Asian leaders was held in the spring of 2018 in Kazakhstan, the second in 2019 in Uzbekistan, and the third in 2021 in Turkmenistan.
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Based on materials from TASS