Statement by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassymzhomart Tokaev at the opening ceremony of the ACD High Level Seminar on Cooperation and Development in Asia.
(Qingdao, June 21, 2004)

Mr. Long Yongtu, Secretary-General of Bao Forum for Asia!

Distinguished participants of the seminar!

First of all let me express my sincerest appreciations to the organizers of this seminar for giving me an opportunity to make a brief presentation on my views on the development of Asian region.

What is Asia itself? It’s a huge region full of diversity either economic or cultural. In comparison with Asia the other regions are relatively homogeneous. Let’s take Europe as an example. The level of the economic development of the European countries, namely of the Western Europe, is almost the same, and what is very important – very high. The European countries also have a similar cultural background. And it is very important to remember that it was Europe where the first so called “industrial revolution” occurred in the beginning of 18th century, which gave a powerful impetus to the technological advancement of the European countries. All these significant factors made possible efficient and comprehensive cooperation within Europe and laid down a solid basis for the present European Union, which has already become an influential economic and political entity in the world.

As far as Asia is concerned, our historic background is absolutely different. We inherited not only cultural diversity, which is good, but poverty, prejudices, boundary disputes, backwardness, which is extremely bad. The level of the economic development of the Asian countries is characterized as enormously different. Despite the fact that Asian countries possess huge deposits of energy and human resources we have no reason to be fully satisfied by the present position of Asia in the global economy. We have to demand ourselves to be more ambitious, we also have to admit that without economic advancement the Asian values, that we are so proud of, will never become universal and predominant, and Europe still will be considered as an epicenter of the contemporary political culture and a symbol of human values.

Mr. Chairman,

Kazakhstan being the most dynamic developing country of the Central Asian region is the only member state representing this region in the ACD. Our view to the future of the ACD is very optimistic since we are convinced that without dialogue and cooperation Asia will not prosper and even survive in the process of globalization.

It is very important that the ACD greatly contributes to the willingness of the member-countries to step up the ongoing cooperation, to pursue open trade, to attract investment, to achieve technological advancement.

As to Kazakhstan, we have already defined three priority spheres of cooperation within the ACD – energy, transport and agriculture. We are ready to actively cooperate in these spheres along with other developed countries of Asia.

One of the major obstacles to the cooperation in Asia is underdevelopment of transportation and communication systems. This problem must become a top priority for all international organizations concerned as well as for the national governments. I wish to draw your attention to the project of building a new narrow-gage railroad from China across the territory of Kazakhstan to Europe. Once this project be implemented there will be a bridge connecting Southeast Asia with Europe and this railroad will give a boost to the continental trade.

During twelve years of independence Kazakhstan carried out the economic reforms that came out to be a success and brought about the highest living standards in our part of the world. The economy of my country is considered to be developing extremely fast, the financial sector is also very advanced and healthy. All financial institutions, including the World Bank, OECD and a number of rating companies give very high credits to the economy of my country.

We are also the leading country among all post Soviet states in terms of per capita foreign direct investment. Our commitment to the open, liberal economy is strong and irreversible. We strongly believe in open trade as a powerful engine of the economic development. That’s the reason why Kazakhstan is getting prepared to join WTO next year or in the first half of 2006.

Our primary objective is to make our economy more competitive so that it could be a natural component of the global economy including its Asian part.

Kazakhstan intends to further enhance trade with bordering Asian countries, where the priority is given to China. The implementation of a pipe-line project between Kazakhstan and China will make Beijing a major trade partner of my country. Within nearest three years we expect the volume of trade to reach 10 billion US dollars.

One of our major goals is to expedite the process of free trade in Central Asia. While talking about this issue, we have to keep in mind that the Central Asian region is very complicated in terms of the present situation in the global economy. There are strong challenges posing a threat to the prosperity of 50 million people living in our region. Let me name out those challenges: poverty, technological backwardness, overdependence on natural resources, disproportion in the development of national economies, deterioration of ecology, lack of the liberal reforms and underdevelopment of market economies, difference of economic models, unemployment, shortage and irrational utilization of water resources, illegal migration, corruption, illegal drug trafficking and religious extremism.

The fact that all these vicious signs can be applied to a number of Asian countries and even sub-regions make it a common problem for all of us.

In this context the intention of the Central Asian countries to establish a free trade zone in the region seems to be extremely important. And we strongly believe that the experience of such groupings like ASEAN will be very helpful for us. As far as Kazakhstan is concerned, we wish to establish a free trade zone in the region as soon as possible. We are also very hopeful to obtain the Observer’s status in ASEAN.

Our aims are clear – stability, economic prosperity and cooperation in Asia. The military conflicts in our continent may cost millions of lives. We appeal to all countries of our planet to seek peaceful means for solution of the conflicts. Being committed to these principles, the Republic of Kazakhstan can not turn a blind eye on the situation in Iraq.

Kazakhstan firmly stands for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, calling for restoration of peace and security in the region and advocates the supreme role of the UN in the postwar reconstruction of the national economy of Iraq. Having faced the experience of Iraqi crisis, we need to put as a priority the prevention of any conflict situation, which may occur in the future. Along with other organizations this aim is consonant with the objectives of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA).

As you are aware, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev initiated the idea of CICA at the 47-th session of the UN General Assembly in 1992. The aim of CICA is to create an effective structure which would ensure security within the Asian continent, where unlike the other regions, such a mechanism has not been established yet. Today, CICA is a good forum for a dialogue and consultations of a number of Asian countries on the issues related to the security and confidence building measures in the region.

Availing myself of this opportunity I wish to inform the participants of this High Level Seminar that the next Ministerial meeting of CICA will be held on 22nd of October this year in Kazakhstan. All ministers and senior officials of the relevant ministries are kindly invited to take part in this meeting.

Thank you all for your kind attention.