Tashkent hosts annual meeting of Deputy Foreign Ministers of Central Asia

On December 14 2019 in Tashkent, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Ashikbayev took part in the annual meeting of Deputy Foreign Ministers of Central Asian states organized by the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA).

 

Besides the Deputy Foreign Ministers of five Central Asian countries, the meeting was attended by Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Central Asia and Head of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia Natalia Gherman, a number of senior UN representatives and a delegation from Afghanistan led by Deputy Foreign Minister Naheed Esar during a special session on IRA.

 

During the event, the participants discussed regional and transnational challenges to stability and security in Central Asia, the results of joint work between the countries of the region and the UNRCCA this year in addressing these challenges, as well as the prospects for furthering the development of regional cooperation.

 

In his speech, Mr. Ashikbayev emphasized that Kazakhstan has always supported the expansion of regional rapprochement between the Central Asian states and noted a particular interest of the country in the politically stable, economically sustainable and safe development of the region based on mutual trust and respect for common interests. He drew attention to a number of threats and challenges to which Central Asia is exposed and elaborated on the measures of addressing them.

 

Among the main challenges in the region were terrorism and extremism, drug trafficking and transnational crime, human trafficking, water, energy and environmental issues, transit issues and access to global markets.

 

In general, the speakers positively highlighted the development of regional cooperation, of which significant impetus was given by recent summits in Nur-Sultan and Tashkent. Furthermore, they emphasized the importance of strengthening the cooperation with neighboring Afghanistan and perceiving it as a promising partner, rather than a source of threats.

 

A separate session was dedicated to discussing the future development of the region with youth representatives as part of the launch of the UNRCCA initiative on Central Asian Government-Youth Dialogue.

 

The meeting - held in this format — has established itself as an effective platform for discussion and decision-making on existing issues of regional nature. 

 

On the sidelines of the event, Mr. Ashikbayev also held a series of meetings with his Central Asian colleagues where they discussed the current situation in bilateral relations and prospects for strengthening the cooperation in various formats. The Deputy Foreign Minister also met with UN Special Representative Natalia Gherman and exchanged views on the further routes of enhancing the cooperation between Kazakhstan and the UNRCCA.