In an exclusive interview, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the European Union, Margulan Baimukhan, discussed the tensions between major geopolitical players, cooperation in Central Asia, and his country’s rich traditions in promoting international understanding.
Margulan Baimukhan was appointed as Kazakhstan’s ambassador to the European Union in 2021. Started his career at Daewoo Electronics, He has Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to Poland.
He talked with Georgi Gotev, EURACTIV’s senior editor.
We are talking at the end of the year, this is a good opportunity to take stock.You said the highest point was last month President Qasim-Jomart Tokayev visits Brussels?
This year is very active, especially in the second half of the year. The exchange of high-level visits illustrates this point. In fact, the most important thing is that our President Kassim-Jamaal Tokayev visited Belgium for the first time. He and the EU leader, the chairman of the council Charles Michel and the chairman of the committee Ursula von der Lein , And meetings with Belgian leaders, King Philip and EU leaders. Prime Minister Alexander De Crowe.
So even though the COVID pandemic is still going on, the relationship hasn’t slowed down?
Although the COVID period has reduced the number of face-to-face contacts between politicians, parliamentarians, businessmen, and scientists, 2021 is a special year. This year is our mark 30day Anniversary of independence, and demonstrates the importance of Kazakhstan’s relationship with the European Union in various forms.
The direct manifestation of this is that despite the pandemic, our turnover with the EU has increased by 15% in 2021. This means that our relationship is full of vitality, and statistics prove it: the EU’s foreign direct investment in Kazakhstan reached 8 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, slightly less than in 2019, but we expect better results in 2021 . I mentioned that the volume of trade reached 20 billion Euros, and it is still increasing. For us, the EU will remain the largest economic partner and investor. Some figures can illustrate this trend: 27,000 European companies have long-term economic operations with the Kazakh market, on the contrary, 3,700 Kazakhs have similar activities with the EU.
From a strategic point of view, what is behind these numbers?
For our implementation of EPCA, the enhanced partnership and cooperation agreement that came into effect on March 1, 2020 is the key. By the way, we spoke on the anniversary of December 21, six years ago, and the EPCA was signed.
This is a huge document covering 29 areas of cooperation. As far as we are concerned, we have adopted the EPCA implementation roadmap, which is our internal document, but it is transparent to our European partners, who can learn more about how we implement our agreement.
There are high-level political dialogues on a wide range of issues including regional and global security, as well as trade and economic cooperation focusing on green economy, numbers, and transportation. Kazakhstan’s goal is to be carbon neutral by 2060. Our goal is in line with the EU Green Agreement or EU Connectivity Strategy, and transportation is also very important. Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country in the world. Our goal is to develop cargo transit under the highest standards, including digitization.
The EU’s policy is not surprising to us. In 2010, then President Nursultan Nazarbayev launched our national initiative “Green Bridge” as the answer to our country’s challenge of climate change.our Astana Expo 2017 It is called the “energy future” because although we are a country rich in fossil fuels, we already know what the global challenges are.
The first task is to introduce the best technology from Europe in Kazakhstan. Another priority is to encourage scientists, scholars and students to engage in various projects such as Erasmus+. We are about to end the multi-year financial framework that provides specific funding, and the new MFF 2021-2027 is about to begin. This does not mean that Kazakhstan wants EU money, we have our own funds, but we are really interested in common projects in the areas I have already mentioned.
As far as Central Asia is concerned, can you also talk about the regional aspects?
I believe the five countries of Central Asia are already obvious [Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan] Well integrated. They set a common goal, a common goal. The EU is funding a 1 billion euro joint project, and Kazakhstan hopes to play an active role in it.
As the largest economic player, I think my country produces 60% of the region’s GDP, and we can become the door of the European Union in these projects.A few days ago, the European Union proposed its Global gateway initiative. We are studying it and look forward to playing our role. We have also proposed our own projects with other countries in Central Asia. We are very grateful for the attention of the EU Central Asian representative Teshihakala and his predecessor Peter Brian, who have been deeply involved in this process. You are also aware that the situation in Afghanistan is worrying, and Kazakhstan and its Central Asian partners hope to play an active role in this crisis.
Kazakhstan maintains good relations with geopolitical participants, some of which are also your immediate neighbors. What does its diplomatic wisdom show? I ask this question because the tension between the major geopolitical powers is increasing…
In fact, Kazakhstan is a neighbor of Russia and China. Since our country gained independence in 1991, the first step of our leadership has been to delineate the border. This helps a lot.
Second, we pursue a multi-faceted foreign policy. The early stage is easier because the relationship between the United States, China and Russia has become more tense. But we maintain our multi-vector policy and have no plans to change it. There is a concept of “strategic partnership”, we have this concept with the Russian Federation, we have this concept with the People’s Republic of China, and we have a strategic partnership with the European Union and its member states.
Our initiative has always been sincere and peaceful. The Astana process is an example [concerning Syria]To promote nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, the entire Central Asia region is a nuclear-weapon-free zone. We will continue our work.
Served as the presidency of the OSCE in 2010 and was a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council [in 2017-2018], Kazakhstan elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council [for 2022-2024]There are various platforms, and Kazakhstan is promoting its multi-vector policy. The bottom line is not only to maintain our independence, but also to make it stronger. This strengthening is based on communication, dialogue, good-neighborliness and non-interference in internal affairs. Don’t forget our role in the geopolitical map.
I participated in two rounds Astana Process As a journalist, I describe Kazakh diplomacy as discrete and humble, but also very useful. Is this the correct description?
We are sincere and pragmatic supporters. Any diplomatic activity requires a certain degree of confidence. When we provide a platform for the Astana process, it shows that our partners have the necessary confidence that they can discuss complex issues in our capital. Diplomacy is not static, it is constantly evolving, and we learn from experience. Some people call our diplomacy “grassland diplomacy”, while others call it “nomadic diplomacy.” It is not easy to keep a large territory like ours. Our ancestors have always favored constructivism, which is also very important to us: peace, understanding, constructivism.
It is generally believed that foreign policy will be successful only if internal policy is successful. The reforms we are carrying out in Kazakhstan, under the concept of “listening to the country”, are entering the flesh step by step. We cannot change everything overnight, nor as fast as some of our European partners imagine, but by building confidence internally, we will also become stronger on the global stage.
