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Education Investments Afghanistan Bilateral Trade Bilateral Cooperation International Relations

Uzbekistan Builds a Religious School in Afghanistan

TOLOnews is reporting that Uzbekistan has agreed to finance the construction of a religious school in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The school, which will be built on sixty acres of land and will cost $6 million, is intended for one thousand pupils. The Consul General of Uzbekistan in Mazar-i-Sharif, Furqat Nazarov, said that the school is being built at the request of the governor of Afghanistan's Balkh province. Nazarov added: “We have allocated one year for this project, and it will be completed by then.” Balkh's Deputy Governor Nurul Hadi Abu Idris commented: “This is a sign of the coordination of the Islamic Ummah. Unity among Muslims is increasing daily.” Afghan officials consider Uzbekistan's establishment of this school to be a practical step in strengthening relations between the two countries. Abdul Jalil Shaheedkhil, the head of Balkh province's education department, said: “The establishment of this school, God willing, will further strengthen relations between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.” Zabihullah Noorani, the head of information and culture in Balkh, said: “This will be the largest school in Afghanistan, and it will improve our education sector.” The Consul General of Uzbekistan in Mazar-i-Sharif promised to strengthen ties with Afghanistan, and added that Uzbekistan would soon resume providing education and business visas for Afghan citizens. Uzbekistan and Afghanistan are developing their trade relations. This year there are opportunities to increase the volume of mutual trade to $1 billion and, soon after, to $3 billion. Uzbekistan has also finished repairing the Naibabad railway station in Afghanistan.

International Relations Bilateral Relations Politics Export/Import

Kazakhstan and Tajikistan Sign Allied Relations Treaty

A treaty on allied relations between Kazakhstan and Tajikistan was signed on August 22 during Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's state visit to Tajikistan and talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe. Noting its significance, Rahmon stated that the treaty opens a new page in the history of Kazakh-Tajik cooperation and will become a solid foundation for strategic partnership between the two nations. President Tokayev, in turn, emphasized that “there are no problematic issues between our countries” and announced plans to increase bilateral trade to $2 billion. Over the past five years, the annual trade volume between Kazakhstan and Tajikistan has more than doubled, exceeding $1 billion. Referencing Kazakhstan's readiness to increase supplies to Tajikistan of some 85 commodities valued at $200 million, Tokayev announced: “We agreed to expand the range of goods supplied, systematically remove barriers that hinder trade and economic cooperation between our countries, and strengthen partnership in the transport and logistics sector. There is a serious potential for increasing bilateral trade in the agro-industrial sector. In the first six months of this year, agricultural trade between our countries increased by 12%, amounting to almost $300 million." Tokayev also emphasized the importance of cooperation in the water sector: “We agreed to continue the coordinated work on the rational use of resources of transboundary rivers of Central Asia. Kazakhstan is grateful to the Tajik side for timely decisions related to fulfilling obligations in the water and energy sector, particularly on [irrigation] water supplies to Kazakhstan.” During the talks, it was stated that over the past five years, Kazakhstan has invested $700 million in Tajikistan's economy. Today, more than 80 percent of Tajikistan's fruit and vegetable exports go to Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan imports large amounts Kazakh wheat, flour, and other grain products. On August 21, the eve of Tokayev’s visit, Dushanbe hosted a Kazakh-Tajik business forum, during which the parties signed 14 commercial contracts and cooperation agreements worth $1.2 billion.

Afghanistan International Relations International Cooperation Taliban Diplomacy

Kazakhstan Accredits Chargé D’Affaires of Afghanistan

The Kazakh Foreign Ministry has announced that the country has accredited a chargé d'affaires of Taliban-led Afghanistan to expand trade, economic, and humanitarian cooperation between the two countries. On August 21 in Astana, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alibek Bakayev met with Muhammad Ur Rehman Rahmani, head of Afghanistan’s diplomatic mission in Kazakhstan. Bakayev stated that Kazakhstan had accredited Mr. Muhammad Rahmani as chargé d'affaires. Early in June, Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced that his country had removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations, stressing that the move was made to develop trade and economic ties with Taliban-led Afghanistan. In recent years, Kazakhstan has made efforts to increase trade with Afghanistan and participate in Afghan transport and connectivity projects in cooperation with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Kazakhstan has also advocated for consolidating international efforts to provide assistance to Afghanistan and resolve its complex humanitarian problems. To this end, Kazakhstan proposed establishing the UN Regional Centre for Sustainable Development for Central Asia and Afghanistan in Almaty.

International Relations Regional Cooperation

Sixth Consultative Meeting of Heads of Central Asian States Takes Place in Astana

On August 9, 2024, Astana will host the Sixth Consultative Meeting of Heads of State of Central Asia, bringing together the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. This event has become an important platform for discussing critical issues of regional cooperation, strengthening economic ties, and addressing everyday challenges. This year’s guests of honor were the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the head of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asian countries, Kakha Imnadze. The main topics of this year's meeting will be economic cooperation, regional security and cooperation, water resources, and energy. Special attention will be paid to water resources management, which is critical to the region's sustainable development. The leaders will also discuss strengthening trade and economic ties, which has become especially important given the growing indicators of mutual trade, which have grown 2.5 times over the past ten years, reaching almost $11 billion. Another important topic will be ensuring regional stability, including fighting terrorism and extremism, and developing joint measures to strengthen border security. The summit is also expected to adopt the "Strategy for the Development of Regional Cooperation in Central Asia-2024", which aims to expand the five-party interaction and strengthen the international role of the region. These consultative meetings of Central Asian leaders, which began in 2018, have become an important tradition and serve as a constructive platform to discuss and address common challenges. The 2024 meeting emphasizes Central Asia's growing importance in the international arena and the readiness of the region's countries to address current challenges and seize opportunities for joint development jointly. On August 9, 2024, a meeting of Central Asian foreign ministers was also held in Astana. Kazakh Foreign Minister, Murat Nurtleu opening the meeting, emphasizing that the event demonstrates the strong commitment of Central Asian countries to strengthening cooperation in all spheres, and that the region's governments have all made significant progress in economic and political interaction in recent years. The total GDP of the Central Asian countries now stands at about $450 billion, and mutual trade has grown by 80% over the past five years, reaching $11 billion. The meeting focused on strengthening regional cooperation in the key areas of energy, transportation, logistics, industry. Kazakhstan proposed developing a long-term comprehensive mechanism of collaboration in the area of water resources and hydropower that would consider the interests of all countries in the region. On the same day, the summit, Central Asia + Japan was to be attended by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida; however, Kishida cancelled his visit to Kazakhstan due to a powerful earthquake which struck off the coast of Japan.

Turkmenistan Diplomacy United Nations International Relations

UN’s Guterres and Turkmen President Berdimuhamedov Discuss Development, Security

During his visit to Turkmenistan, the UN Secretary General António Guterres met President Serdar Berdimuhamedov to discuss strengthening cooperation in political, economic, environmental, cultural, and humanitarian spheres. President Berdimuhamedov emphasized Turkmenistan's aspiration to further develop relations with the UN. Noting the importance of the country's permanent neutrality in strengthening peace and security in the region, he recalled that on Turkmenistan's initiative, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 2025 the International Year of Peace and Trust. Guterres praised Turkmenistan's proactive approach to solving urgent problematic issues and remarked on the country's important role in ensuring universal peace, security, and sustainable development. He also recognized Turkmenistan's efforts to address the problem of statelessness, especially in Central Asia. During the talks, both sides stressed the prolonged nature of the strategic dialogue between Turkmenistan and the UN, based on common ground regarding the organization's goals and the country's national interests. Outlining the priorities of the Turkmenistan-UN strategic dialogue, the president highlighted ensuring global security, resolving regional situations, sustainable development, and other humanitarian issues. He also proposed to develop a Global Security Strategy based on preventive diplomacy for conflict prevention, expressing a readiness for close cooperation with all interested states and UN institutions. In the context of regional cooperation, the parties noted the growing importance of Central Asia as a critical center of global energy, geopolitics, and transportation.

China Strategy SCO Shanghai organization BRICS International Relations

China Supports Kazakhstan’s Bid to Join BRICS

Beijing has officially supported Kazakhstan's application to join BRICS, a group of emerging economies founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009, which South Africa joined a year later. In January of this year, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE were also admitted as full members. The Anadolu Agency reports that Kazakhstan's bid to join became known after a meeting between Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Xi Jinping last week. According to the Chinese leader, “China and Kazakhstan are walking side by side on the road to modernization.” Xi Jinping noted a great synergy between the two countries and said he supports the application. During the meeting, the president of Kazakhstan also supported China's initiative to "create a community [for the] common destiny of mankind," expressing his country's readiness to "constructively support" issues related to its realization.