ASTANA – At the 16th World Policy Conference held from Nov. 3-5 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko outlined Kazakhstan’s approach to addressing regional and global challenges, reported the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service.
Vassilenko advocated for the “Great Gain for all” concept, proposed by Astana. Photo credit: MFA
The conference, themed The International System between Globalization and Disintegration: Which Forces Will Prevail? brought together over 200 government representatives, leading think tanks, and international companies from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States.
At the session on Eurasian perspectives concerning evolving geopolitical configurations, Vassilenko reaffirmed Kazakhstan’s commitment to the principles of the United Nations (UN) Charter, emphasizing respect for territorial integrity, border inviolability, and state sovereignty, which are fundamental to resolving international conflicts and disputes.
The Kazakh diplomat also echoed President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s calls for UN reform, stressing the need to increase the authority of the UN General Assembly as the most representative body, and expand UN Security Council membership to include states from various global regions, particularly middle powers.
Vassilenko expressed Kazakhstan’s interest in the speedy conclusion of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in establishing an atmosphere of trust and cooperation between them and in that region generally, which will contribute to the further opening and unblocking of transport communications in the South Caucasus. According to him, this will have a beneficial impact on the further intensive development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) — the Middle Corridor — something that will meet the interests of Kazakhstan, the countries of Asia and Europe.
Vassilenko echoed Tokayev’s calls for UN reform to increase the authority of the UN General Assembly Photo credit: gov.kz
Speaking about the development in Central Asia, the minister outlined three interrelated trends. The first concerns socio-economic and environmental security challenges exacerbated by global warming, along with political security issues arising from the situation in Afghanistan.
The second trend is the enhanced cooperation among Central Asian states as they confront these challenges, which has heightened the region’s agency in global politics.
The third trend involves the active engagement and interaction of external players, including Arab nations, China, the European Union, Russia, Türkiye, and the United States, with Central Asia. These relationships are both bilateral and multilateral, resulting in the establishment of 11 dialogue platforms with international partners under the Central Asia Plus framework, as Vassilenko pointed out.
In this context, citing as an example the strong reaction of the people in Kazakhstan to recent headlines in some western media, Vassilenko noted the irrelevance, unacceptability and fallacy of perceiving the countries of Central Asia through the prism of outdated concepts of the “Great Game”. He emphasized that Astana, on the contrary, proposes and promotes the concept of “Great Gain for all”, believing that common challenges, such as the need to increase interconnectivity, fight climate warming, and ensure sustainable economic growth, should play a unifying role.
On the sidelines of the conference, the minister met with Thierry de Montbrial, President of the French Institute of International Relations, to review the outcomes of French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent official visit to Astana.
They also considered prospects for further collaboration with the authoritative French think tank, including preparations for President Tokayev’s planned visit to Paris next year.
