President
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, together with his counterparts
from Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan, took part in the seventh
Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State. At the Congress Center, he was
welcomed by the Uzbek leader, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Consultative
meetings at the level of country leaders provide an opportunity not only to
strengthen partnerships but also to jointly determine the future directions of
the region’s development. President Tokayev
emphasized that the format has already proven effective.
«The region’s internal cohesion, achieved through
joint efforts, opens broad horizons for development and international
cooperation for our countries. Leading states recognize the region’s important
role in global processes. Against this backdrop, interest in the Central Asia
Plus format is growing. This year clearly demonstrates that, given the recent
summits with key international partners. In my view, the main goals of such a
partnership are to strengthen regional stability and create conditions for sustainable
progress, ensuring the well-being and prosperity of our countries and peoples,» Tokayev noted.
President Tokayev noted the achievements in
strengthening the economic foundation of regional cooperation. Last year, the
volume of intra-regional trade reached $11.5 billion, and the parties intend to
raise this figure to $20 billion. The Head of State called for the launch of
breakthrough projects in promising sectors, namely in agriculture, the transit
sector, the extraction and processing of rare-earth metals, and tourism.
«Our countries possess significant, but as yet underexplored, reserves of such resources. We can combine efforts to attract advanced technologies and introduce innovative solutions to the region. Kazakhstan has proposed establishing a Regional Research Center for Rare Earth Metals in Astana, which could provide investors with up-to-date information on available deposits and development technologies,» Tokayev added.
The
water issue was also addressed. The Head of State
proposed coordinating the water strategies of the region’s countries and
scaling up best practices in water conservation, and, in the long term,
developing a Central Asian Framework Convention on Water Use. This would
establish unified principles for working with water
resources and reduce the risk of disagreements. Most importantly, President Tokayev proposed giving the consultative meetings a more strategic
character. He believes that the Council of National Coordinators should
not only monitor the implementation of agreements but also shape the region’s long-term development directions. Next year, the chairmanship of the Consultative Meeting
of Heads of State will pass to Turkmenistan. In
2026, it will take place in a new, permanent format: Central
Asia + Azerbaijan.
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