First Ministerial Meeting in “Central Asia – Group Of Seven” (G7) Format Held Online

Astana, November 8, 2023 – Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Roman Vassilenko participated in the first ministerial meeting of the Central Asian and G7 countries that took place in an online format.

Prospects for cooperation in the fields of regional security, economy, transport, energy and investment, combating global warming and protecting the environment, water management, as well as tourism were discussed at the meeting.

In his remarks, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan stressed the importance of expanding trade ties, increasing the involvement of the G7 economies in the region, as well as developing the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route in connecting key industrial centers of Europe and Asia.

Roman Vassilenko further noted that Kazakhstan is committed to joint measures to counter modern global and regional challenges, in particular, solving the emergency in the field of climate, food crisis, and water issues as well as saving the Aral Sea. Kazakhstan’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 have also been outlined. In addition, the diplomat urged his interlocutors to support the Kazakh initiatives to establish a UN Regional Center for SDGs for Central Asia and Afghanistan in Almaty and to participate in the Regional Climate Summit under the UN auspices in Kazakhstan in 2026.

Representatives of the Central Asian countries in their interventions also focused on the importance of increasing cooperation in priority areas for the development of our region. The readiness to develop further dialogue in this format was expressed.

In turn, G7 foreign ministers and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell confirmed their commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Central Asian states in accordance with the UN Charter. They noted that active cooperation between individual G7 members with the Central Asian states is already underway through bilateral and multilateral channels. At the same time, they called for further expansion and deepening of cooperation in the fields of security, infrastructure development, trade and economy. In particular, mutual interest in improving connectivity was noted, including through the development of regional projects within the framework of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), a major G7 initiative envisaging the attraction of 600 billion US dollars for infrastructure projects around the world until 2027.

The delegates also had a substantive exchange of views on the impact of geopolitical turbulence on the countries of Central Asia, including the challenges associated with global instability and disruption of supply chains, as well as ways to overcome them.

For reference: G7 is an association of leading economically developed countries, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, while the European Union also participates. Japan currently holds the presidency of the group.

The G7 countries are major trade and investment partners of Kazakhstan, accounting for more than 20% of the country’s foreign trade balance. Last year, G7 investments in the economy of Kazakhstan increased by 30%, exceeding 8 billion US dollars and trade turnover reached 30 billion US dollars.