WNAM MONITORING: The Central Asian region played a key role in the history of the Great Silk Road and Greater Eurasia as a whole, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed an opinion in his article “The Renaissance of Central Asia: On the path towards sustainable development and prosperity”.
“For centuries, the Central Asian region has functioned as a unified geopolitical and spiritual space, endowed with significant natural resources, a powerful human capital and a rich cultural and historical heritage,” the article reads.
According to the Head of State, the symbiosis of nomadic and sedentary lifestyles not only formed the basis of the region’s economic system but also predetermined the development of its own political and legal culture, its own value system, which was characterized by a high degree of tolerance and resilience to various changes. Empires were created and dissolved in the vast expanses of Central Asia, political and economic models evolved, but its unique identity was invariably preserved. From time immemorial, our peoples have harmoniously interacted with various civilizations.
“It is precisely because of this that the region played a key role in the history of the Great Silk Road and Greater Eurasia as a whole,” stresses President Tokayev, “while preserving its ethnocultural and spiritual originality.
“In the modern stage of development, our states have gone through many trials and difficulties. Pessimistic forecasts that the Central Asian republics would join the group of so-called “failed states” did not come true,” the Kazakh President underscores.
On the contrary, in his words, the countries of the region have proven their viability and have taken a worthy place in the international community.
“Thanks to the unity and wisdom of our peoples, we have strengthened our territorial integrity, freedom, and independence.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that today each country in the region has accumulated its own unique experience in state-building, developing a market economy, restoring cultural heritage, and forming national identity.
Public and state institutions have been modernized. Developed infrastructure and industry have been created, thousands of kilometers of new railways and highways have been laid, and important social facilities have been built. Our course towards openness and renewal has ensured the steady growth of national economies and integration into global economic relations,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasizes in the article.
The Head of State also highlights that the systematic development of education, healthcare, and pension systems has led to a significant improvement in the socio-economic situation of the population.
“Interstate relations within the region have also undergone radical changes,” says the Kazakh President, praising constructive bilateral and multilateral dialogues that have been established at all levels between countries.
“Significant progress,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev points out, “has been made in resolving problematic issues that previously often led to contradictions and hindered the comprehensive development of regional cooperation”.
According to Tokayev, the success in finding mutually beneficial solutions in the water and energy sector deserves high praise. “Favorable conditions are being created for the phased advancement of issues related to the delimitation of state borders, the improvement of the work of border checkpoints, the expansion of transport links, the launch of new routes, and the facilitation of mutual travel for citizens,” the article says.
“The processes of rapprochement aimed at uniting efforts for the sake of ensuring long-term security and prosperity of the region have acquired a consistent and irreversible character. Today,” notes President Tokayev, “the relationships between the five states have reached the level of deep strategic partnership and alliance, filled with concrete content in both political and trade-economic, as well as cultural-humanitarian spheres”.
“The Central Asian states have managed to develop their own pragmatic strategy of foreign relations, which has created a stabilizing balance of inter-country and inter-regional interests, allowing us to become full participants in global processes.
Strengthening their status of peace-loving states, the “Central Asians” actively promote their ideas and projects in multilateral structures and are founders of such successful and influential organizations as the CIS, SCO, CICA, Organization of Economic Cooperation, EAEU, Organization of Turkic States, and other structures,” he states.
In the article Kassym-Jomart Tokayev claims that ‘this allows us to confidently speak of the “Central Asian Five” as a group of steadily developing and self-sufficient countries in the very heart of the Eurasian continent’.
“There is no doubt that the common historical past, centuries-old traditions of friendship and good neighborliness will continue to serve as an unshakable foundation for the rapprochement of our fraternal peoples,” the piece reads.
