Economy, security and humanitarian ties - on the agenda of the Central Asian dialogue in Astana
On 15 March, Astana hosted a working meeting of the leaders of the Central Asian countries, which allowed to synchronize positions on vital issues for the region, the solution of which requires a pentalateral approach. Turkmenistan has always regarded cooperation with its closest neighbors as a priority area of foreign policy. “Today, we are facing a number of issues on sustainable development, the achievement of which depends in many ways on the level of mutual understanding between the Central Asian countries and the effectiveness of regional cooperation,” says the message of President of Turkmenistan to the participants of the high forum. In this context, as the Turkmen leader noted, our country adheres to the course of increasing the economic potential of the region, its competitiveness in the world arena, which is impossible without the implementation of regional energy, transport, communication and trade projects. It is quite natural that special attention was paid to the issues of trade and economic cooperation at the meeting in the Kazakh capital. “According to the UN, over the past 10 years, the average GDP growth in Central Asian countries has amounted to 6.2%, which is significantly higher than the world average of 2.6% for the same period. There was an increase in foreign trade of the countries of the region,” KazInform Agency quotes the statement of the President of Kazakhstan at the final press briefing. With a view to sustainable development of the regional economy, the parties considered the possibility of creating a five-sided working commission at the level of deputy prime ministers. They also discussed the expansion of the range of export-import operations, improvement of the investment climate, digitalization of the economy, optimization of tariff regulation, simplification of procedures for transit transport. Another relevant topic, touched upon by the leaders of the region is the overall security and situation in Afghanistan. The parties agreed to continue their efforts on voicing the Afghan problem in the international arena. In addition, the Kazakhstan has proposed to launch a five-sided consultative mechanism on regional security issues. The parties also called for the completion of the border demarcation and delimitation process. The transboundary water resources management, widely have been discussing on various level in the region, were included into agenda of the present meeting as well. As noted, it should be settled on the basis of mutual respect, respect for the interests of all parties through the coordination of legal positions. If all the above-mentioned tasks can be solved by specialized structures and agencies, then the peoples with common historical roots, identical mentality and culture, can be brought together in the modern era via enhancing humanitarian contacts with such promising content as culture, sports, tourism, science and education. Following the meeting, the parties adopted a congratulatory address to the nations of Central Asia and decided to meet again in a consultative format in Tashkent next year on the eve of Novruz holiday. In general, each Central Asian country has something to share with other neighbors and to contribute to regional progress. The main thing is having good will and openness to dialogue on an equal and mutually beneficial basis.
