The 2nd Ministerial Meeting of Strategic Dialogue ‘Central Asia – Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)’, hosted by Tashkent on April 15, was attended by top diplomats from Central Asia and six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, and Bahrain.
Aimed at strengthening comprehensive cooperation between Central Asia and Gulf Cooperation Council states, discussions focused on political, security, trade, economic, investment, transport and logistics, environmental protection, green energy, cultural and humanitarian issues.
In his address, Alibek Bakayev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, emphasized the importance of strengthening trade relations between the two regions and encouraged the Gulf States to actively participate in the implementation of joint investment projects in both Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries.
In addition, he outlined various initiatives currently in operation in Kazakhstan including expanding the activities of the Islamic Organization for Food Security and exploiting the potential of the International Technopark of IT start-ups, ‘Astana Hub’.
Reporting on the outcome of the Ministerial Meeting, Uzbekistan’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Bakhromjon Aloyev stated that participants had unanimously agreed to a further summit of the Central Asia – Gulf Arab States Strategic Dialogue, to be held in Samarkand in 2025.
The ‘Central Asia – GCC’ dialogue platform was launched in 2022 and the first Ministerial Meeting took place that September in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
