Kyrgyz FM speaks at Antalya diplomatic forum

Bishkek, June 21, 2021. / Kabar /. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic Ruslan. Kazakbaev spoke at the Antalya diplomatic forum. In his speech, Kazakbaev expressed confidence that the Antalya Forum will become a traditional and authoritative global platform for the development of cooperation in order to maintain security, peace and stability using innovative diplomatic approaches. He expressed the hope that as a result of this forum the world community will be able to achieve political, economic, environmental and humanitarian stability, unity of views and positions on topical issues of the international agenda. In his speech, Kazakbaev emphasized the need to resolve interstate disputes exclusively by peaceful means and at the negotiating table. In this context, he mentioned the recent Kyrgyz-Tajik border conflict and noted the desire of the sides to resolve it through diplomatic methods. Noting the geopolitical architecture taking shape in the world in the current period, the minister stressed the importance of integration processes in the Asian continent. He called on the participants to intensify trade and economic, transit, transport, energy and information technology interaction between the region and the continents in general. In this context, the head of the Foreign Ministry of Kyrgyzstan proposed to use the regional ties established by the peoples of the Silk Road, which have been tested for centuries. In particular, Kazakbaev stressed the need to develop Asian communication highways, such as China - Kyrgyzstan - Uzbekistan, which, when connected to the Baku - Tbilisi - Kars railway project, will connect China to Europe via the mainland. He proposed to develop mechanisms of confidence-building measures to intensify the foreign policy of states and peoples to maintain stability, security and prevent conflicts. Noting the growing importance of the Eurasian continent and the Turkic states in the modern world order, the Kyrgyz minister emphasized the special role of the countries and peoples of Central Asia, which have promising human, intellectual, energy, transit and transport resources. At the end of his speech, he expressed gratitude to the government of Turkey and President Erdogan for the excellent organization of the international forum, cordial hospitality and the opportunity to meet to discuss the development of cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and foreign partners in a bilateral and multilateral format.