Astana is strengthening its position as Central Asia’s trade hub, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) launching a new initiative – the Kazakhstan Central Asia Program – in the capital. The initiative aims to support regional development and reinforce Kazakhstan’s role as a key center of expertise. It is expected to shift the country from a model of borrowing practices to actively exporting its own expertise and shaping the regional agenda in Central Asia. As part of the program’s launch, the first regional WTO seminar kicked off in Astana, bringing together around 50 representatives of government agencies from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and other countries, as well as leading international experts in trade policy.
«I believe this program will be very successful. Very few
countries in the world have initiatives like this—such as the European Union and China—and now
Kazakhstan has launched its own program to support both domestic civil servants
and those across Central Asia. Thus, we are, both de facto and de jure,
becoming a center of expertise for trade diplomats,» said Kairat
Torebayev, Kazakhstan’s Permanent Representative to the WTO
and international economic organizations.
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