ASTANA – The Astana Times has selected articles from global media outlets covering Kazakhstan. This week’s foreign media digest highlights the country’s growing international profile, from its role as a middle power and a bridge between East and West, showcased at the Astana Think Tank Forum 2025, to rising U.S. engagement in Central Asia and Kazakhstan’s recognition among the world’s top tennis nations by the International Tennis Federation.
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Astana Think Tank Forum spotlights the role of middle powers in global affairs
EU Alive published an article on Oct. 16 exploring how Kazakhstan, newly recognized as a middle power, is positioning itself as a bridge between East and West through balanced diplomacy, multilateral engagement, and initiatives to restore global trust, as showcased at the Astana Think Tank Forum 2025.
“The role of middle powers in promoting peace and sustainable development is growing not only regionally but also globally,” said Yerzhan Ashikbayev, Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, clearly signaling his country’s ambition to contribute to this effort. He spoke at the opening of the two-day Astana Think Tank Forum 2025 in the Kazakh capital. According to the article, the event, organized by the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies (KazISS), is held annually since 2024 with the ambition to provide a platform for honest, constructive policy dialogue between East and West in a polarized world.
Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan strategic partnership enters new phase, political analyst says
APA published an article on Oct. 20 highlighting how relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have reached an unprecedented level of political trust and strategic partnership, built on the personal friendship between Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and strengthened through long-term cooperation across regional and international platforms.
“Azerbaijan is a reliable strategic partner and a proven ally for us in the South Caucasus. The foundation of our relations is political will, mutual trust and sincere friendship,” said Kazakh political analyst Almat Toyekin, noting that ties between the two countries are based not on short-term interests, but on a shared strategic vision and long-term mutual support.
Kazakhstan recognized among the world’s top tennis nations as ITF increases voting power
The Kazakhstan Tennis Federation (KTF) announced that Kazakhstan has been recognized among the world’s top tennis nations following the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) decision to increase the country’s voting power from seven to nine votes at its Annual General Meeting (AGM), PR Newswire reported on Oct. 22.
The decision, supported by 91% of delegates representing 200 national federations, elevates Kazakhstan to the second-highest of the ITF’s six membership levels, alongside leading tennis countries such as Italy, Czechia, Canada, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, China and Japan.
Kazakhstan calls for strengthened multilateral cooperation, dialogue in polarized world
The Astana Think Tank Forum 2025 gathered global scholars, diplomats, and policymakers to explore how middle powers like Kazakhstan can rebuild trust and cooperation in an increasingly divided world, reported The Korea Herald on Oct. 19.
During the forum’s main session, which explored how multilateralism and global governance can function amid persistent division, speakers examined how middle powers such as Kazakhstan can help strengthen cooperation in an era of growing rivalry among major blocs.
First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Ashikbayev highlighted the growing role of middle powers in regional and global affairs in “promoting peace and sustainable development.”
What America can benefit from a Middle Power like Kazakhstan
Modern Diplomacy published an article on Oct. 15 about how Kazakhstan’s emergence as a strategic middle power with a multivector foreign policy is reshaping U.S. engagement in Central Asia, as Washington deepens partnerships in a region increasingly central to Eurasian connectivity and global trade.
“The first is that Kazakhstan is emerging as a geographically strategic country in Central Asia and a keystone country in the middle of an increasingly interconnected and interdependent Eurasian landmass. As one of the founding members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Kazakhstan is a major trading partner with all of its neighboring member states and provides a critical east-west link through China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which functions closely within the SCO’s transnational network. As part of various initiatives of Central Asian states in promoting their emergence onto the global stage as a sort of ‘New Silk Road,’ Kazakhstan has spent the last five years heavily promoting the country as a favorable place for international investment and its futuristic capital, Astana, as a new, modern, urban hub on par with Doha, Dubai, and Shanghai,” reads the article.
