PR93335

NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan, Nov. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

A number of important initiatives were proposed by the First President of

Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev at the plenary session of Astana Club [

http://astanaclub.kz/ ] in the capital of Kazakhstan.

According to Nazarbayev, amid the upsurge in tensions between the US and China

as the key geopolitical players, continuous trade and sanctions wars, and a

looming threat of a new global Cold War, there is a growing need for the new

formats of dialogue and cooperation in Eurasia.

In particular, it is becoming especially important to develop direct contacts

between Eurasian Economic Union, European Union, Shanghai Cooperation

Organization and recently created Organization of Turkic States.

In this regard, Nazarbayev proposed the creation of a new quadrilateral

economic forum of the "Greater Eurasia".

Kazakhstan is willing to be a host of this forum, if this initiative is

supported by all parties involved.

The Astana Club this year was attended by over 50 renowned speakers, including

former heads of state and government, heads of think tanks and international

organizations, leaders of business and global media.

Among them are Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission

(2004-2014), Board Chair of the GAVI Alliance; Ban Ki-moon, former UN

Secretary-General; Jacob Frenkel, Chairman of Frenkel-Zuckerman Institute for

Global Economics, Chairman of JP Morgan Chase International (2009-2020); Kevin

Rudd, President of the Asia Society Policy Institute, former Prime Minister of

Australia; Abdullah Gul, President of Turkey (2007-2014); Hamid Karzai,

President of Afghanistan (2004-2014); Lisa Curtis, Deputy Assistant to the

President and NSC Senior Director for South and Central Asia (2017-2021) and

many others.

For 3 days 14 sessions of the Club were held, devoted to the subjects of

pandemic crisis, the US-China geopolitical and technological confrontation, the

future of Afghanistan, the climate agenda, as well as the role of Kazakhstan

and Central Asia in regional and global arena.

US-China confrontation and its potential impact on the future architecture of

the international system was the particular focus for the meeting participants.

As Kevin Rudd noted, the US-China conflict is in dire need of effective

management mechanisms.

Regarding the future of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai states that the country is

facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and urgently needs international

assistance.

Alongside, Jacob Frenkel said that the rising inflation rate is one of the main

challenges to the global economic recovery and requires the development of

joint consolidated measures by the international community.

The initial meeting of the Astana Club was held in 2015. Over the years of

annual gatherings, more than 200 eminent speakers from 40 countries of the

world took part in the work of the Club.

In its history, Astana Club has been headlined by such political leaders and

prominent experts as the founder of Stratfor George Friedman, by former prime

ministers of Turkey and Spain: Ahmet Davutoglu and Jose Luis Rodriguez

Zapatero, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, well-known strategic analyst

Edward Luttwak, the Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research

Institute (SIPRI) Dan Smith, and many others.

This year's meeting of the Astana Club [ http://astanaclub.kz/ ] was held in

the second half of November, in the capital of Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan under the

theme: Vision of the New World: Post-pandemic and Beyond. The annual event is

hosted by the Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP) [

https://iwep.kz/ ] and the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation [ https://fnn.kz/ru

].

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1697956/VI_Astana_Club_meeting.jpg

Logo:

https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1697890/Nursultan_Nazarbayev_Foundation_Logo.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1697889/Astana_Club_Logo.jpg  

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1697892/IWEP_Logo.jpg

Source: Astana Club