Cholpon-Ata city is hosting the 4th Consultative Meeting of the Heads of Central Asian countries.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev voiced the main problems in the region. He stressed that the key issue is strengthening of cooperation in the field of security and diplomacy.
«Central Asia should become a vast area of sustainable development, peace and prosperity. It would be better to launch a mechanism for regular consultations of the Secretaries of the Security Councils, and the heads of Foreign Ministries should also hold consultations every six months,» Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
He noted that the concept of interaction between the states should be adopted, and suggested not to be confined within fixed geographical limits. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that high representatives of Russia and China could take part in the next meetings that would be beneficial when considering specific issues.
He separately dwelled on the border conflicts that periodically break out in the region.
«In times of crisis, our states must set an example and resolve disputed issues only peacefully, in the spirit of good neighborliness and respect for the norms of international law. Ignoring can nullify all efforts. Kazakhstan is ready to provide all possible assistance in the search for mutually acceptable solutions. We propose to create an expert platform, and offer the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Central Asian states to take over the coordination,» the head of the Republic of Kazakhstan said.
He also noted the lack of information about the events in the countries of the region and proposed to create a regional TV channel or an information website.
The first Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia was held in Nur-Sultan (2018), the second — in Tashkent (2019). In 2020, the summit was planned to be held in Kyrgyzstan, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was postponed for a year. Turkmenistan hosted the third meeting in August 2021.
