President K.Tokayev took part in the summit of the heads of state "Central Asia - India"

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took part in the first summit of the heads of state "Central Asia - India", organized on the initiative of the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in the format of videoconferencing. 

The virtual meeting was also attended by President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

At the beginning of his speech, the President of Kazakhstan expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister of India for the very useful and timely initiative to hold the summit and congratulated Narendra Modi and the people of his country on the Republic Day. 

The head of state noted that over three quarters of a century of sovereign development, India, which is the embodiment of an ancient original civilization, has achieved impressive success in economic development.

– It is very symbolic that this Summit is taking place in the year of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries of Central Asia and India. Over the years, we have established a constructive political dialogue and are constantly expanding our multifaceted economic and humanitarian ties. Our vast Asian region has colossal resources and enormous intellectual potential. Important transport corridors and fast-growing markets are concentrated here. The role of Asia in the world economy has significantly increased, it is becoming a new global center of attraction for investments and capital, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.

According to the President, this opens up great prospects for realizing favorable opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation, primarily in trade. In particular, the trade turnover between the countries of Central Asia and India in 2020 reached $3 billion. At the same time, the share of Kazakhstan amounted to 80%.

“However, current performance still falls short of our overall economic potential. In my opinion, the work of such dialogue platforms as the Central Asia-India summit is of great practical benefit for the progressive development of our countries, as well as the development of effective responses to new challenges and risks. I am sure that this unique format of a productive exchange of views will help bring cooperation between our states to a qualitatively new level, he believes.

The head of our state outlined his vision of the key areas of the Central Asia-India dialogue. At the same time, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stressed that the main priority should be the further development of trade and economic cooperation and the establishment of transit and transport links.

In particular, the President focused on expanding cooperation in the transport and logistics sector, in which Central Asia has a huge potential.

The head of state noted that only 11 international transit corridors pass through the territory of Kazakhstan, five of which are railway and six are automobile. These corridors provide a high speed of movement of goods in the East-West, North-South direction. Also, transit opportunities were noted within the framework of the unified customs system of the EAEU in the north-western direction and the south-western route through the Kazakh ports of Aktau and Kuryk.

– I am deeply convinced that the creation of a reliable, efficient and secure transit infrastructure should become a key element of the interconnectedness architecture of Central and South Asia. To this end, I propose to consider the possibility of creating an interregional transport and logistics consortium. This structure could ensure effective coordination of national policies regarding the full and mutually beneficial loading of transport routes in the direction of India and ports in the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.

Another priority within the framework of the dialogue, the President of Kazakhstan called the unification of efforts in order to increase mutual trade. He pointed out that the share of Central Asian countries in India's foreign trade turnover is less than one percent. In this regard, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev supported the initiative of the Indian side to create a trade and economic platform at the level of ministers of trade and industry.

- Kazakhstan, in turn, has everything necessary for their joint practical implementation. In particular, we have compiled a list of 80 items worth $610 million, which we can send to the Indian side in the very near future. We are also ready to consider the possibility of expanding India's exports to Kazakhstan. In this regard, I propose to develop a Plan to increase trade flows, taking into account the competitive advantages of each country, the Head of State said.

Along with this, the President called for increasing the volume of mutual investments. He assured that Kazakhstan would continue to strictly and fully fulfill all investment obligations, and stressed that improving the investment climate is one of the components of our economic policy, which underlies the concept of New Kazakhstan. 

- We are interested in attracting investments in such promising areas as the mining and metallurgical complex, agriculture, green energy, healthcare and the pharmaceutical sector, - Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

The head of state also considers it urgent to ensure the stability of food markets. In his opinion, within the framework of the dialogue, it is important to develop measures to strengthen agro-technological and scientific-innovative cooperation, as well as to hold regular consultations of the ministers of agriculture.

In addition, in his speech, the President touched upon the issue of digitalization of the economy. He spoke about the potential of our country in this area and noted a number of popular areas, such as the introduction of artificial intelligence, Big Data, the Internet of things, online commerce and cybersecurity, as well as the creation in our country of laboratories in the field of telecommunications and the electronics industry, assembly plants for electronic technology.

A separate block in the speech of the Head of State was devoted to security issues. The President expressed the opinion that the events taking place in the world demonstrate that terrorism, extremism and transnational crime remain pressing challenges of our time. Under these conditions, the activities of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia are of particular relevance.

- The role of India in strengthening the potential and status of the Conference is great. The CICA anniversary summit will take place this year. I hope, Mr. Modi, to see you in the capital of Kazakhstan,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said. 

The President added that Afghan problems will be included in the agenda of the upcoming summit among the topical issues.

Summing up his speech, the Head of State expressed confidence that this format of high-level meetings would become an effective platform for solving the most important issues of the region.

As a result of the summit, the leaders adopted the Declaration of the first Central India Summit.