18 December 2024 | 14:04

An unusual comparison was found for Kazakhstan's foreign policy

©️ Tengrinews.kz / Turar Kazangapov

Tengrinews.kz - The 17th annual World Policy Conference was held in Abu Dhabi, according to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.

One of the topics of discussion was Kazakhstan's contribution to solving international problems and the country's new role as a rising middle power. According to Thierry de Montbrial, founder and president of one of Europe's leading research centers, IFRI, Kazakhstan has become an increasingly active participant in solving various international challenges as a middle power in recent years.

Montbrial asked himself the following questions: "What is Kazakhstan's foreign policy based on, how does it manage to maintain positive relations with various geopolitical centers of power in an era of sharply increased tension between them, and what can our country do in its newly acquired status, especially in matters of conflict resolution?"

During the ensuing discussion, Roman Vassilenko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, gave the example of a yurt as an explanation for the country's balanced and pragmatic foreign policy.

"There are no corners in a traditional Kazakh house. And, accordingly, the need to take one side or another, to choose one corner or another, as in a boxing ring, is contrary to our mentality," Vassilenko said.

It was noted that "Kazakhstan does not accept the division of countries into blocs. We believe that if states should take a side, they should choose cooperation rather than rivalry; interaction rather than isolation; the rule of law rather than lawlessness; mutual benefit and the concept of universal gain (win-win) rather than mutual exclusion and zero-sum games."

As the diplomat emphasized, thanks to this approach, Kazakhstan has built mutually respectful and mutually beneficial relations with all partners and does not have tense relations with any country in the world.

Speaking about what, in fact, middle powers can do in the conditions of a crisis in the international security system, the deputy minister emphasized that Astana has advocated and advocates for strengthening the UN as the only global organization called upon to resolve issues of global development and security.

"For this, as the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev notes, a reform of the UN Security Council has long been overdue, as it has been in a state of impasse on many fundamental issues of war and peace for many years. Kazakhstan believes that the Security Council should be more representative and ensure fairer representation, reflecting modern realities," he added.

According to Vassilenko, "as a middle power - and we take this definition very seriously - what we can do is to continue working in cooperation with other countries that share our approaches, as a kind of network of like-minded countries, to find collective solutions, to convince the world's superpowers of the need to take into account the interests of all humanity and quickly find answers to the fundamental issues facing all of us, such as climate change, inequality, poverty, and the like."

Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan made a statement regarding the situation in Ukraine.

Foreign Ministry United Arab Emirates diplomat

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