A View From Kazakhstan

Republic of Kazakhstan along with other Central Asian states entered into the system of international relations by developing new system of commonwealth and relations between the states

The main requirements of the integration process in Central Asia are as follows:

 The Central Asian states are situated close to each other;

 All the states share their historical experiences as well as cultural and social lives;

 The Central Asian Republics have both land and water which are necessary for agriculture; and

 They have abundant raw materials, especially hydrocarbon resources.

These are very important requirements for integration, especially because these countries need a lot of the raw materials and in order to take them to the world market, it is necessary to establish new national companies and corporations

The Central Asian states have developed the regional commonwealth which has existed for centuries and that the whole region is entering the integration process on the basis of friendship and understanding

The integration process began in the 1990´s and it is now a positive development.

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan were the first to form the Union “Central Asia Commonwealth and Development Bank”

The Central Asian countries began paying attention to the economic, and to the security problems that are connected with the prevailing situation in the neighboring countries such as Xinjiang, Afghanistan and the Eurasian region.

The problem of drugs production and trafficking in Afghanistan poses serious challenges in all over the world

Central Asia has been the bridge between East and West. The Great Silk Route played an important role. Today oil and gas pipelines as well as motorable roads and railways are situated along the Silk Route. The Silk Route is also important for tourism because several countries all over the world pay much attention to develop tourism sector. The places like pyramids in Egypt, the Great Wall in China and Taj Mahal in India attract many tourists from all over the world and this aspect is important for the integration process in Central Asia

Experts and policy planners have stressed on establishing modern scientific institutes and centers for example, in Kazakhstan there are universities like Kazakh-Britain Technical University, which is supported by "Kazakhstan

Oil and Gas Company", and Kazakh Economic University named after T. Ryskulov is supported by ATF Bank in

Kazakhstan. So these private universities are developing like corporations and that gives opportunities for training future professionals

The objectives in the integration of Central Asia are:

1. A number of organizations interested in the development of Central Asia have been established. The representatives of some business organizations are interested in enlarging economic relations

2. Kazakhstan began capital investment in Central Asia, Russia and the Caucasus because some countries need raw materials

3. Solve the political problems coming in the way of the integration process

The president Nazarbayev said that integration in Central Asia is the way to regional stability, progress, economic strength and military political Independence to compete with highly developed countries of the world as well as with the European Union and other organizations

Uzbekistan wanted to enter this organization because Eurasian Economic Community has concluded 84 agreements, more than 60 of which are officially used. The Eurasian Economic Community has a great potential with its large reserves of oil and gas, sources of energy, foodstuffs, system of transport communication and infrastructure.

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