Kazakhstan International Affairs - The Times Of Central Asia

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EBRD Plans to Double Investments in Kazakhstan in 2024

Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister, Nurlan Baibazarov, met with Hussein Ozkhan, the Acting Managing Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for Central Asia and Mongolia, it has been reported. The meeting discussed the status of current projects and EBRD's plans to finance new initiatives. Special attention was paid to attracting investments for Kazakhstan's sustainable socio-economic development. Ozkhan said the bank plans to double its investments in Kazakhstan's economy this year. In particular, the EBRD is developing a significant project with Kazakhstan's power grid management company, KEGOC, which aims to improve the reliability of electricity supply in the country’s western regions. The largest territorial project, the construction of new sewage treatment facilities in Aktobe, was signed earlier. Funds have also been allocated for constructing new production facilities for Araltuz JSC, a leading producer of table salt, and support for women's and youth entrepreneurship. In June 2024, ahead of schedule, the new passenger terminal of Almaty Airport opened, also financed by the EBRD. The bank also participated in the IPO of the national air carrier Air Astana. Baibazarov emphasized that Kazakhstan intends to expand cooperation with the EBRD at national and regional levels, supporting the bank's desire to invest in the private sector. "Our country is ready for mutually beneficial work with the EBRD to attract investment for the implementation of projects in energy, transport and logistics, the development of renewable energy and private business," the Deputy Prime Minister said. Since the beginning of cooperation with Kazakhstan, the EBRD has invested €10.2 billion in the country's economy through 324 projects. The bank's project portfolio in Kazakhstan currently includes 121 projects worth more than €2.9 billion.

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UN: Central Asia’s Big Youth Population is Key to Progress

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres shook hands with presidents and addressed dignitaries in ornate halls during a tour of Central Asia last week. But he also spent a lot of time with young people, saying “their potential is largely untapped” in a region where, by United Nations estimates, people under 30 years old make up more than 50% of the population. Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal, met young climate activists in Kyrgyzstan and students in Turkmenistan. In Tajikistan, the U.N. chief said 70% of that country’s population is under 30 and told young people at a school there to hold elders to account on the pressing challenge of climate change. “You have the moral authority to talk to others - as those that suffered the impacts of climate change and are not contributing essentially to it,” Guterres said at a school established by UNICEF with funding from the European Union. “You are the victims of climate change. So, you have the right to tell the others, ‘Behave.´ Because they are not behaving.” Think globally, Guterres told the students. “It’s not Tajikistan or Uzbekistan,” he said. “No, it’s everything together.” The U.N.’s focus on young people having a say in Central Asia stems from a sense of possibility in what could shape up as an increasingly strong labor and leadership pool, as well as concern that young people with few prospects drift into unemployment and disenchantment, fueling social pressures and instability. The fertility rate in the wider region comprising Europe, North America and Central Asia has dropped in numerous countries in the last decade, while the “five Central Asian countries, Georgia, Israel and Monaco are the only countries in the region with a total fertility rate at or above replacement level,” the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe said in a report in October. At the same time, the report said, the Central Asian states are among the countries in the region that have “experienced negative net migration” since 2015, while countries receiving the largest numbers of migrants in that period were the United States, Russia, and Germany. The total population of the five Central Asian countries is about 76 million. Some of those countries, especially Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, rely heavily on remittances from nationals who struggle to find work at home and seek opportunities abroad, particularly in Russia. The alleged involvement of several Tajiks in a deadly terror attack in the Moscow area in March led to a backlash of harassment and intense scrutiny aimed at many Central Asian migrants in Russia. At a regional health forum in Kyrgyzstan last month, the Europe director of the World Health Organization, a U.N. agency, noted that Central Asia has a “significant young and educated population” at a time when European populations are aging. “This will – if the youth potential is maximized – give Central Asia an edge in the decades ahead,” the director, Dr. Hans Kluge, said.

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Tokayev Calls For Expanded SCO to Play Greater Role on Global Stage

A meeting entitled “Strengthening Multilateral Dialogue – Striving for Sustainable Peace and Development” was held to conclude the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana on July 4. The meeting was was held in the "SCO Plus" format. and was attended by the leaders of the SCO full member states who participated in the Summit earlier in the day, plus leaders of the organization's observer countries and dialogue partners. These included the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, presidents Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The SCO Plus session of the Summit took on greater importance this year, amid suggestions that the alliance is primed to expand next year. Countries interested in joining the SCO as full members include Turkey, Qatar and Egypt. In his speech at the meeting, Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized the role that the SCO can play as a stabilizing force in the international arena. “Today the world is faced with serious challenges caused by unprecedented geopolitical contradictions and growing conflict potential,” said Tokayev. “The international security architecture is under threat, which could lead to dire consequences for all of humanity. In such a fateful period, we are entrusted with a huge responsibility for strengthening peace, stability, and security through collective efforts at the regional and global levels. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, taking into account its authority, significant economic and human resources, is capable of developing effective solutions to achieve sustainable development goals and overcome modern challenges.” Concerning the role of the United Nations, Tokayev said that its potential is far from being exhausted. “Our common task is to strengthen the role of the UN as the main international institution for ensuring global security, capable of effectively confronting the challenges of the 21st century. The voice of the SCO should and will sound louder in the international arena, promoting a consolidated position on various problems of our time,” he emphasized. In his own speech, Gutteres referred to the SCO as "a valuable partner of the United Nations". With reference to strengthening trade and economic ties, Tokayev said: “At the current stage, the economies of the SCO member countries are demonstrating high growth rates of 4% to 9%. The share of the SCO states in global GDP is 30% already. Today, the foreign trade of the SCO participating countries exceeds $8 trillion, which is equivalent to a quarter of all world trade.” Tokayev emphasized the fact that economic growth in Asia is largely due to the SCO states. On behalf of Kazakhstan, he also welcomed China’s intention to expand access for SCO countries to its market, and increase trade turnover with the SCO member states to $3 trillion. “It is important for us to fully unleash the colossal economic potential of the SCO. The interaction of the SCO with such integration associations as the EAEU, BRICS and ASEAN opens up broad prospects. A powerful driver for sustainable growth in global trade is further strengthening of transport connectivity. More than...

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Mixed Results for Kazakhstan in Media Freedom Rankings

Analysts at Ranking.kz have provided an overview of press freedom in Kazakhstan and alleged violations against journalists. According to the International Foundation for the Protection of Freedom of Expression, Әdil sөz, there was a 20.1% decrease in incidents of violations against correspondents last year, with 434 incidents in 2023 and 141 from January to May this year. Additionally, reports of pre-trial claims or lawsuits against individual journalists or editorial offices declined by 5% in 2023. Despite this, seven court decisions led to various sentences for journalists at the end of 2023. The most common violation was obstruction of legitimate professional activities, with 51 cases, including six violent ones, primarily involving police and state employees. Threats to journalists and editorial offices were also significant, with 44 incidents reported. Nonviolent attempts to coerce journalists were noted to have decreased slightly. However, despite fewer reported violations, according to Reporters Without Borders, censorship issues have worsened. Kazakhstan's press freedom ranking fell from 134th to 142nd in 2024, with a score of 41.11 out of 100. In contrast, Kyrgyzstan ranks highest in Central Asia at 120th, while Turkmenistan remains one of the worst globally in 175th place.

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China Seeks to Import 20,000 Tons of Pork from Kazakhstan

Representatives of the Chinese Meat Association visited EMC Agro, one of the largest meat processing enterprises in Kazakhstan, with an interest in importing 20 thousand tons of pork per year. The Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture reported that during their tour of the facility in North Kazakhstan, the Chinese delegation witnessed the processing cycle from slaughter to packaging. Fully automated, the process complies with international sanitary and epidemiological standards, with quality control monitored around the clock by a laboratory equipped with German analysers. The produce is then frozen. Regarding the company’s readiness to supply China with 60% of its produce, EMC Agro head Erzhan Yeleubaev stated, “China has great demands. Supply volumes must be stable and raw materials must be safe. Our meat is of high quality, we have no doubt in our products, and we are ready for fruitful cooperation. The Chinese market is important for us.” The EMC Agro meat processing plant has a production capacity of 20,000 tons of meat per year and 30 tons of finished meat products per day. In February 2024, China finally cancelled the ban in place since 2022, on the import of meat imposed by concerns over foot-and-mouth disease in Kazakhstan.

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Universities of Kazakhstan and China to Cooperate on Microsatellite Launch

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and the Northwest Polytechnic University of China have agreed to conduct joint scientific research using microsatellites. According to the press service of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the agreement was reached during talks between the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and Xi Jinping, during the latter's official visit to Kazakhstan. The initiative, the first of its kind to be implemented by Kazakh universities, opens up new opportunities for space research, training qualified specialists, and developing joint satellites, as well as enabling remote sensing studies of the Earth via a microsatellite. Integral to the project, is an aim to develop equipment for gravimetric measurements, including a specialized ground station and a transmitter on the satellite, designed to detect density inhomogeneities in the Earth's crust and mantle. The employment of such, will help solve fundamental problems in the study of geodynamic processes at great depths. The North-West Polytechnic University of China is a leader in launching objects into space whilst Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, the only Kazakh university with experience in launching nanosatellites into orbit , has already launched its own Al-Farabi-1 and Al-Farabi-2 nanosatellites.