Event Summary: FM Tokaev Visits Washington
On Thursday, July 6th, H.E. Kassymzhomart Tokaev, Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, spoke in a W.P. Carey Forum for the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Tokaev was also Prime Minister of Kazakhstan for four years, and has served the government since 1975.
The event was well attended and surprisingly interesting given that the speaker was a diplomat. That is not to demean government officials in any way, just to point out that they are frequently more guarded and constrained in what they say than other speakers, and consequently less lively.
Dr. Frederick Starr introduced him by complimenting both the Foreign Minister and Kazakhstan profusely, calling his policy “dynamic and evolutionary,” characterized by “moderation and balance.”
Tokaev’s speech focused for the most part on what one would expect – Kazakhstan’s strategic objectives, how important cooperation with the United States is, and energy issues. There did, however, seem to be an unspoken contradiction in his words. While he began his speech by noting that the 4th of July (the United States Independence Day) provides a lesson for younger democracies, he later emphasized that economic reforms should come before political (democratic) reforms, and only with this basis could the political system began to change significantly.
The Foreign Minister also defended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization quite forcefully. He emphasized that “SCO is not an anti-Western block,” contrary to how the media portrays it. Instead, he somewhat ambiguously characterized it as a unique organization with universal goals, and as especially useful for combating religious extremists because of its strong military component.
When an audience member asked him what role Kazakhstan might play in reforming Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, he rather defensively replied that they were both good partners of Kazakhstan. He continued that no one has the right to impose their values on other countries, and that the rest of the world needs to be very patient and understanding because of their very complicated backgrounds.
Tokaev’s speech followed a meeting with Condoleezza Rice, in which they discussed energy issues and potential links between Europe and China.
on July 19th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
‘… he later emphasized that economic reforms should come before political (democratic) reforms, and only with this basis could the political system began to change significantly …’
Clearly he has been paying attention to his Fareed Zakaria. However, it is a variation on the standard Central Asian-rebuttal to critiques on their political and economic reform e.g. ‘you in the West took hundreds of years to achieve free markets and liberal democracy, we have only been independent states for 15 years, how can you expect us to achieve these things so quickly ? etc etc.
on July 19th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
It is “order” in Russia, and “stability” in Kazakhstan, and people do think that the change of political system is going to put an end to that.
on July 20th, 2006 at 5:27 pm
Tokaev’s visit to pave the way for KZ president to pay a visit to the US and get some photo op-eds with Bush and show those photos to Kazakhstanies in order to legitimize his rule and economic and political achievements.