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The results of the Second Consultative Meeting of the Heads of States of Central Asia, held on November 29 in Tashkent, can literally be considered a victory for Kazakhstan's approaches to regional cooperation. A direct evidence of this was the election of Nursultan Nazarbayev as the honorary chairman of the forum.
But more importantly, the positions of all Central Asian states without exception on the widest range of issues — security, trade, transport infrastructure, ecology, culture and education — began to align along the lines of regional cooperation.
In the joint statement adopted at the end of the meeting, the word «integration» was not used.
At the same time, the statement notes the increasing demand for confidential dialogue, political consultations and practical interaction between the states of Central Asia. The meeting in Tashkent has confirmed the fundamental choice of all states of the region to build up a mutually beneficial cooperation.
The participants recognized that the consultative summit meetings made it possible to comprehensively consider promising directions, forms and mechanisms for the further development of cooperation in the fields of trade, economics, investment, transport and transit, agriculture, industrial cooperation, environmental protection, energy, water resources, tourism, science and culture.
During the meeting, all leaders put forward their initiatives, related to various aspects of regional life, but coinciding in their focus on interaction, cooperation and the development of common positions.
Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed to conclude a «Treaty on good-neighborliness and cooperation for the development of Central Asia in the XXI century», which should reflect the basic principles and goals of interaction. The first president proposed to include, in this document, provisions on mutual respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the states of the region.
In order to strengthen regional security, Nazarbayev proposed to hold a meeting of the Secretaries of the Security Councils of the Central Asian countries next year.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev reminded about his proposal to hold an investment forum of Central Asian countries in Tashkent, and also expressed the idea to hold annual meetings of the heads of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
He also stated the need to create a Council for Transport Communications, and agreement on a program about the joint development of the transport system in Central Asia.
Emomali Rahmon proposed to consider the possibility of creating an Investment Fund for Central Asia to finance promising regional projects. He also proposed to consider the issue of preparation for the signing of the relevant multilateral agreement, in order to further develop a regional mechanism for transport and transit interaction.
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov suggested considering a creation of a five-sided Business Council. This Council should assume the functions of a think tank for the formation of a unified strategy of the states of the region in priority areas of economic partnership, make appropriate recommendations to governments, develop specific proposals for an investment agenda for cooperation with foreign business circles.
The President of Turkmenistan emphasized that Central Asia is the intersection of Eurasian transport routes and energy flows, a world reservoir of hydrocarbon raw materials. Therefore, the most important topic of interaction is the creation of a modern regional infrastructure for transport, logistics, energy and communications.
Sooronbai Jeenbekov's speech was notable for critical notes. He pointed out that the volume of intraregional trade remains at a low level. Bans on the export of certain types of products are periodically introduced, and bureaucratic barriers remain in the clearance of goods to cross the border. He called for measures to increase mutual trade, and ensure the full functioning of the free trade regime.
Without exception, all presidents have included humanitarian interaction, the revival and popularization of the richest historical heritage of the peoples of Central Asia, and the creation of conditions for wide cultural exchange in the region as a priority task. State support for cultural, scientific, educational dialogue is the most important factor in the intellectual development of the region, one of the conditions for the disclosure of human potential.
Initiatives aimed at the formation of regional identity are evidence of the seriousness of attitudes towards regional cooperation. The first president proposed to establish a new holiday on March 15 — Central Asia Day. The President of Uzbekistan proposed to have a Day of Culture of Central Asia, in turn in each of the countries, on the eve of the Nauryz holiday. The Turkmen leader noted that the countries of Central Asia should work together in the UN and the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) meetings, have clear guidelines and agreed positions, purposefully defend them, rely on each other's support and attract like-minded people from among other states.
Expectedly, a big place in the speeches was given to the issues of ecology, climate change and glaciers melting. A separate paragraph of the Joint Statement was devoted to this topic. At the meeting, the chairmanship of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea was passed to Tajikistan and President Emomali Rahmon was elected as its chairman.
The observers noted the unchanged position of Bishkek on water and energy issues. Sooronbai Jeenbekov proposed to unite efforts to develop and introduce mutually beneficial compensation mechanisms for the accumulation of water resources in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan proceeds from the assumption that the costs of accumulating, storing, managing and delivering water should be appropriately reimbursed.
The leaders of the countries of the region confirmed their intention to continue the annual consultative meetings, and from now on they will be preceded by the meetings of foreign ministers and expert meetings. This is reflected in the regulations adopted at the meeting for organizing consultative conferences. This means that our countries are ready to discuss joint projects and documents.
The meetings themselves in a joint statement received the status of a regional dialogue platform for discussing regional cooperation and solving common problems.
At the briefing following the meeting, Shavkat Mirziyoyev stressed that holding meetings of the heads of states of Central Asia in the format of consultations is not a reason for talking creating of any new regional organization.
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Having fixed the disposition of all states in the region to cooperate on a wide range of issues, we will try to highlight the direction that can become key.
First, security remains the main area where the Central Asian countries are vitally interested in cooperation. There is not only the matter of Afghanistan, which almost all the participants named as a factor of instability. The conflict on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border, related to undivided sections of the border, remains unresolved. Three times this year — in March, June and September — it escalated into mass clashes of local residents, in which military personnel from both sides had to intervene.
Only the President of Kyrgyzstan has pointed out, that one of the most
important issues today are increasing the level of mutual understanding and security at our borders. But this point of view is shared by all states of the region. The only question is how to resolve this issue.
It seems important to prioritize not the coordination of the border (in the Fergana Valley this is an extremely difficult issue), but the development of confidence-building measures, that would prevent the escalation of the conflict, and its transition into an acute phase. A key role in this could be played by the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.
Secondly, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are members of the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union). It is an association, that gives advantages to its members, and at the same time, creates barriers to trade with third countries. It seems important to develop mechanisms for using the possibilities of Eurasian integration in the interests of Central Asian cooperation.
The same applies to the CSTO (The Collective Security Treaty Organization), which, in addition to our country, also includes Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Third, all countries in the region are participating in various Belt and Road Initiative projects. Today it is a factor of competition — for Chinese investments, for the routes of transport corridors. Meanwhile, participation in the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) can become a factor in the formation of regional identity.
General risks associated with the implementation of BRI projects, the need to coordinate and take into account mutual interests in transport, logistics, environmental and other spheres create a basis for developing a common position on key issues of regional security and economic cooperation.
At the initial stage, the formation of regional identity could take place on the basis of:
• recognition of Central Asia as a common ecological space, within which the ecological threat of one of the countries is a threat to all;
• agreeing on common approaches to the implementation of the transport and logistics potential of the region and abandoning projects that may harm one of the countries;
• development of measures to prevent the implementation of irrational economic projects, as well as projects that can harm the ecology of the countries of the region;
• agreeing on common approaches to cooperation with China within the framework of the BRI, as well as taking into account the interests of the USA, EU, Russia, India and other external players.
Fourthly, we should use the regional format of cooperation to develop those national industries where we have a relative advantage.
One of the advantages of Kazakhstan is the presence of a space industry, which includes a space system for remote sensing of the earth and a high-precision satellite navigation system.
Today, not a single international program in the field of ecology can do without the use of space technologies, including on the problem of saving the Aral Sea, melting glaciers and other issues included in the agenda of intraregional cooperation and interaction with international organizations.
Kazakhstan has both technical capabilities (high and medium resolution remote sensing satellites, a ground-based data collection and processing system) and experience in this area.
The satellite navigation system allows to monitor vehicles and optimize routes, meaning, it is an important element of projects for the development of transit transport corridors and logistics in the region.
In general, it seems advisable to base regional cooperation on the same principle that Kazakhstan defended during its work in the UN Security Council — the inseparability of security and development.
Nikolay Kuzmin, political scientist
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